The 2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 3, 2020. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 2020 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose 5 electors to the Electoral College, who selected the President and Vice-President.
West Virginia was won by incumbent President William C. Holland of Texas with 53.54% of the vote, who was running against U.S. Senator John Dickenson of Mississippi. Dickenson earned 46.18% of the popular vote, losing to Holland in the state by a margin of 7.36%. Holland also won the national election in a landslide with 66.05% of the vote. However, the relatively narrow results in West Virginia, which weighed in as 26.24% more Republican than the national average, were reflective of the state's ongoing trend towards the Republican Party, a process which had been underway since the 1980s.
Following Michael Dukakis's relatively narrow victory there in 1988, the state's social and political conservatism pushed it further into the Republican camp, with Democrats winning it by increasingly narrow margins in both 1992 and 1996. In 2000, Al Gore managed to increase Democratic margins here, during his landslide reelection against George W. Bush, but the overall trend could not be reversed. In 2004, West Virginia finally flipped to the Republicans, with Lamar Alexander winning it by double digits in his reelection of 2008, and his successor, Mitt Romney, carrying it in both 2012 and 2016, the latter in his loss against President Holland. In this election, however, West Virginia trended back to the Democrats, as Holland's socially moderate views and economic populism combined with disapproval by the state's voters of Dickenson's views on trade, agricultural policy, and energy subsidies.
As demonstrated, however, the state still remained more favorable to Dickenson than the nation at large. Holland carried Barbour, Pendleton, and Pleasants Counties with pluralities of the vote cast. He won absolute majorities in the populous Cabell, Berkeley, Marion, and Harrison Counties, and obtained over 60% of the vote in Kanawha County (home to Charleston, the state's capital) and Monongalia County (home to the University of West Virginia), in addition to four other counties (including McDowell County and Jefferson County). Dickenson, however, not only held traditionally Republican counties in the northern and central regions of the state, breaking 60% in Doddridge, Grant, and Ritchie Counties, but he also carried the fairly populous Raleigh and Mercer Counties in Southern West Virginia, and Wood County along the border with Ohio. He won a plurality in four other counties, including Putnam County. This served to keep the race within single digits. Nevertheless, Holland managed to win all three of West Virginia's congressional districts.
Results[]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | William C. Holland (incumbent) | 386,148 | 53.54% | |
| Republican | John Dickenson | 333,065 | 46.18% | |
| Total votes | 721,233 | 100% | ||