The 2018 United States Senate election in West Virginia took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of West Virginia, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Manchin won re-election to a second full term against Republican Patrick Morrisey, who at the time of the 2018 elections had been West Virginia's State Attorney General since 2013. This was one of ten Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state won by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Morrisey conceded on election night.
Manchin was considered to be among the most vulnerable Democratic senators facing re-election in 2018 due to the state's deepening partisan lean and his declining popularity. He ultimately won a second full term, though by a much narrower margin of 3.33% compared to his 2012 landslide, losing 28 counties he won in 2012 and outperforming the margins of defeat from both Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 by more than 40%.
As of , this is the last time that a Democrat won a congressional or statewide election in West Virginia, as well as the only general election defeat of Morrisey's career, and the last U.S. Senate race in West Virginia that was decided by a single-digit margin. Following his defeat in this election, Morrisey continued to serve as West Virginia's state attorney general until he won the 2024 West Virginia gubernatorial election and took office as the state's governor on January 13, 2025.
West Virginia has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996. The last presidential race where the Republican nominee did not win every county in West Virginia was in 2008. From 1959 to 2015, West Virginia was exclusively represented in the U.S. Senate by Democrats.
Manchin was first elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2010 special election, defeating Republican challenger John Raese. Manchin defeated Raese a second time in 2012 to win his first full term in the Senate, receiving more than 60% of the vote and carrying all but three counties.
In 2016, Donald Trump won the state by a greater than 40-point margin over Hillary Clinton (68âÂÂ26%), with Clinton's performance being the worst for either party in the state's history. Trump also won every county in the state.
Concurrent with Trump's landslide 2016 victory in West Virginia, Democratic businessman Jim Justice won the gubernatorial election with 49% of the vote but changed his party affiliation back to Republican within a year (Justice had previously been a Republican prior to running as a Democrat for governor). Democrats lost almost every statewide office in the state in 2016, with State Treasurer John Perdue being the only statewide Democrat re-elected.
Because of the heavy Republican lean of his state, Manchin was ranked by many outlets as one of the most vulnerable incumbents up for reelection. President Trump headlined three rallies in the state on behalf of Manchin's opponent Patrick Morrisey. Manchin's vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh in his highly contentious confirmation hearing, making him the only Democrat to do so, garnered national attention and backlash from members of his own party just weeks before the midterm elections. Despite the challenges to his re-election, Manchin leaned into his close personal ties to the state and emphasized his moderate to conservative views.
Although Manchin was seen as vulnerable during the lead-up to the election, polling considered him to be a slight favorite for most of the general election cycle.
with Don Blankenship<br />
with generic Republican<br />