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West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner election, 2016
2020 →
← 2012
|
 |
May 10, 2015 |
November 8, 2016 |
Kent Leonhardt (R) |
Walt Helmick (D) |
Governor • Attorney General • Treasurer • Secretary of State Down Ballot Auditor • Agriculture Commissioner |
January 30, 2016 |
May 10, 2016 |
August 1, 2016 |
September 20, 2016 |
November 8, 2016 |
TBD |
January 16, 2017 |
West Virginia held an election for agriculture commissioner on November 8, 2016. State Rep. Kent Leonhardt (R) unseated incumbent Walt Helmick (D).
Overview
The commissioner of agriculture works to improve the state's agricultural industry and ensure the safety of all agricultural products sold within the state. Incumbent Walt Helmick (D) and challenger state Rep. Kent Leonhardt (R), who lost to Helmick in 2012, were both unopposed in their parties' primaries and had a rematch in the November general election. Systems engineer Buddy Guthrie (Lib.) also competed for the seat. Going into the election, a Republican had not been elected agriculture commissioner since 1988.[1]
West Virginia had a divided government at the time of the election: Democrats held the governorship while Republicans held the state legislature. The legislature had been won by Republicans in 2014 for the first time since the 1930s, ending a 13-year Democratic trifecta.
Candidates
Walt Helmick (D)
Incumbent commissioner of agriculture since 2013
Kent Leonhardt (R)
State representative since 2015
Buddy Guthrie (Lib.)
Systems engineer
Results
General results
Kent Leonhardt defeated incumbent Walt Helmick and Buddy Guthrie in the West Virginia agriculture commissioner election.
| West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Kent Leonhardt |
48.41% | 321,560 | |
| Democratic | Walt Helmick Incumbent | 41.28% | 274,191 | |
| Libertarian | Buddy Guthrie | 10.31% | 68,502 | |
| Total Votes | 664,253 | |||
| Source: West Virginia Secretary of State | ||||
Primary results
Democratic primary contest
Incumbent Walt Helmick ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for agriculture commissioner.
| Democratic primary for Agriculture Commissioner, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Walt Helmick Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 194,220 |
| Total Votes (1,745 of 1,745 precincts reporting) | 194,220 | |
| Source: MetroNews | ||
Republican primary contest
Kent Leonhardt ran unopposed in the Republican primary for agriculture commissioner.
| Republican primary for Agriculture Commissioner, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kent Leonhardt (unopposed) |
100.00% | 147,782 |
| Total Votes (1,745 of 1,745 precincts reporting) | 147,782 | |
| Source: MetroNews | ||
Context of the 2016 election
Primary elections
A primary election is an election in which voters select the candidate they believe should represent a political party in a general election. Primaries usually take place several months before a general election. West Virginia utilizes a hybrid primary system. Parties decide who may vote. Both the Democratic and Republican parties allow unaffiliated voters to vote in their primaries.[2]
West Virginia's primary election took place on May 10, 2016.
Incumbent Walt Helmick (D)
Incumbent Walt Helmick (D) was first elected in 2012, defeating Kent Leonhardt (R) by a margin of 3 percent. Helmick resigned from the state Senate to assume the position; he had represented District 15 since 1990. Prior to his tenure as senator, Helmick also served in the House of Representatives for a year and worked as an executive for several different companies.
Party control in West Virginia
West Virginia had a divided government at the time of the election: Democrats held the governorship, while Republicans controlled both chambers of the state legislature. The state had been under Democratic trifecta control from 2001 until the 2014 elections, when Republicans gained control of the House of Delegates and state Senate for the first time since the 1930s.
West Virginia had been represented by Democrats in the U.S. Senate from 1958 until the 2014 election, when Shelley Moore Capito (R) won the open seat. The state's electoral votes had gone to both Democrats and Republicans over the 30 years preceding 2016, though the Republican presidential candidate had won the state every four years since 2000.[3]
The last Republican elected to the agriculture commissioner's office was Cleve Benedict (R) in 1988. Prior to his election, Democrats had held the office since 1932.[1] Incumbent Walt Helmick (D) won the position in 2012 over challenger Kent Leonhardt (R) by just 3 percentage points.
West Virginia Party Control: 1992-2024
Nineteen years of Democratic trifectas • Seven years of Republican trifectas
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D[4] | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Campaigns
Campaign finance
| Kent Leonhardt Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| First Primary | April 1, 2016 | $0 | $33,272.43 | $(7,784.51) | $25,487.92 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $33,272.43 | $(7,784.51) | ||||||||
| Walt Helmick Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| First Primary | March 31, 2016 | $0 | $1,464.08 | $(950.00) | $514.08 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $1,464.08 | $(950) | ||||||||
Campaign media
Note: If a candidate is not listed below, Ballotpedia staff were unable to locate any campaign media for that candidate. Do you know of any? Tell us!
Republicans
| Kent Leonhardt (R) |   
|
Endorsements
| Key endorsements, general election candidates[5] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent Leonhardt (R) | Walt Helmick (D) | ||||||||
| State Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael (R) | West Virginia AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education | ||||||||
| Senate President Bill Cole (R) | |||||||||
| Speaker of the House Tim Armstead (R) | |||||||||
| House Majority Leader Daryl Cowles (R) | |||||||||
| What is a key endorsement? | |||||||||
About the office
The West Virginia commissioner of agriculture is one of six elected state executive positions in the West Virginia state government. The commissioner works to improve the state's agricultural industry and ensure the safety of all agricultural products sold within the state. Commissioners are elected to four-year terms and are not restricted by term limits.
Incumbent
The incumbent was Walt Helmick (D). He was elected in the general election on November 6, 2012.
Previous officeholder Gus Douglass (D) announced during his 11th term in office that he would not seek re-election in 2012.[6]
Authority
The agriculture commissioner's powers, term of office, qualifications, and installation are established by Article VII of the West Virginia Constitution.
Article VII, Section 1:
| The executive department shall consist of a governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and attorney general... |
Qualifications
Article IV, Section 4 of the West Virginia Constitution establishes the qualifications of office, requiring that a candidate must be:
- a citizen entitled to vote
- a resident of West Virginia for at least the last five years
|
No person, except citizens entitled to vote, shall be elected or appointed to any state, county or municipal office; but the governor and judges must have attained the age of thirty, and the attorney general and senators the age of twenty-five years, at the beginning of their respective terms of service; and must have been citizens of the state for five years next preceding their election or appointment, or be citizens at the time this constitution goes into operation. |
Past elections
2012
Incumbent Gus Douglass (D) did not seek re-election. Walt Helmick (D) defeated Kent Leonhardt (R) and write-in candidates Betty Quintana and Carl Waggoner in the November 6, 2012, general election.
| West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Walt Helmick |
51.5% | 268,879 | |
| Republican | Kent Leonhardt | 48.5% | 252,783 | |
| Total Votes | 521,662 | |||
| Election results West Virginia Secretary of State Election Results Center | ||||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Gus R. Douglass won re-election to the office of West Virginia commissioner of agriculture. He defeated James Michael Teets (R) in the general election.
| West Virginia commissioner of agriculture, 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Gus R. Douglass Incumbent |
53.1% | 352,242 | |
| Republican | James Michael Teets | 46.9% | 311,496 | |
| Total Votes | 663,738 | |||
| Election results via West Virginia Secretary of State. | ||||
2004
On November 2, 2004, Gus R. Douglass won re-election to the office of West Virginia commissioner of agriculture. He defeated Andrew Yost (R) in the general election.
| West Virginia commissioner of agriculture, 2004 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Gus R. Douglass Incumbent |
63.3% | 437,881 | |
| Republican | Andrew Yost | 36.7% | 253,402 | |
| Total Votes | 691,283 | |||
| Election results via West Virginia Secretary of State. | ||||
2000
On November 7, 2000, Gus R. Douglass won re-election to the office of West Virginia commissioner of agriculture. He ran unopposed in the general election.
| West Virginia commissioner of agriculture, 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Gus R. Douglass Incumbent |
100% | 485,648 | |
| Total Votes | 485,648 | |||
| Election results via West Virginia Secretary of State. | ||||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
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West Virginia government: |
Previous elections: |
Ballotpedia exclusives: |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 West Virginia Archives & History, "Commissioner of Agriculture of West Virginia," accessed April 17, 2016
- ↑ Fair Vote, "Congressional and Presidential Primaries: Open, Closed, Semi-Closed, and 'Top Two,'" accessed January 6, 2014
- ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, "Historical Election Results," accessed September 24, 2016
- ↑ Gov. Jim Justice switched his registration to Republican on August 4, 2017.
- ↑ Kent Leonhardt for WV Agriculture Commissioner, "BREAKING:Kent Leonhardt for Agriculture Commissioner Announces Legislative Endorsements," accessed April 17, 2016
- ↑ West Virginia Department of Agriculture, "Longtime agriculture commissioner Gus Douglass announces he will not seek re-election," May 17, 2011
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