A Gazette editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — What messages can be drawn from West Virginia’s 2016 primary election? We see several:
First, many voters are disillusioned about traditional politics. Apparently that’s why maverick outsider Republican Donald Trump and far-left Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders won their party’s support in the Mountain State. Before the election, polls found West Virginians favoring Trump more than residents of any other state.
Outsider Sanders won the Democratic nod by a strong margin. Sanders got 123,860 votes statewide, compared to 86,354 for frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Evidently, voters rejected long-established political names and sought something different.
Another lesson: Although the Legislature converted judicial races to nonpartisan, the Supreme Court contest was extremely partisan…