Mark Hunt
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston lawyer Mark Hunt was declared the winner of Tuesday’s race to see which Democrat will try to replace incumbent Rep. Alex Mooney as congressman in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
Hunt and U.S. Army lawyer Cory Simpson were neck and neck Tuesday night in the race, but The Associated Press called the race for Hunt just before midnight.
At press time, with 70 percent of precincts reporting, Hunt and Simpson each had 29 percent of the votes. Hunt had about 300 more votes than Simpson, according to results from the AP. Mooney, a Republican, easily defeated Marc Savitt, a Martinsburg mortgage broker. Mooney had 72 percent of the vote at about 11 p.m.
Tom Payne, a Martinsburg patent examiner, had 21 percent of the vote at press time against his Democratic contenders. Harvey Peyton, a Nitro attorney, had 14 percent, and retired Roane County teacher Robin Wilson had 7 percent.
When they met with Gazette-Mail editors in April, all of the Democratic candidates criticized Mooney’s time in office…