State reference

How does government work in West Virginia?

West Virginia’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

134

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of West Virginia source
In effect since: 1872 source

What may surprise you here

West Virginia has no lieutenant governor. If the governor’s office is vacant, the president of the Senate acts as governor. source

Legislature

Name: West Virginia Legislature source
Senate: seats: 34 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Delegates: seats: 100 source
House of Delegates: term in years: 2 source

Structure set by: Constitution of West Virginia, Article VI, sections 1 to 4.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: Ineligible for the term immediately following after serving all or part of two consecutive terms source
Next regular election: 2028 source
Lieutenant governor: the president of the state Senate holds the title source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia source
Intermediate appeals court: Intermediate Court of Appeals source
Main trial court: Circuit courts source
How high-court judges reach the bench: mixed: elected by voters; the Legislature decides whether the ballot is partisan source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 55 source
Cities and towns: The Census Bureau counted 231 municipal governments in West Virginia in 2022 and no township governments. source
Schools: The Census Bureau counted 55 independent school district governments in West Virginia in 2022, matching its 55 counties, and the state constitution places general supervision of free schools with the West Virginia board of education. source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: County clerks source
Primary type: partially closed source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Patrick Morrisey Republican, in office since January 13, 2025. source

US senators for West Virginia
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Shelley Moore Capito	Republican	Class 2	January 6, 2015	January 3, 2027
James C. Justice	Republican	Class 1	January 14, 2025	January 3, 2031

Members of the House for West Virginia
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Carol D. Miller	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 2	Riley M. Moore	Republican	January 3, 2025

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1