MORGANTOWN — Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., looked well on his way to re-election to his U.S. House of Representatives 1st District seat Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Natalie Cline.
With 523 of 557 precincts reporting, McKinley led with 164,978 votes (69%) to Cline’s 73,918 votes (31%).
Totals are unofficial pending canvassing.
Neither candidate responded to calls for comment.
First elected to the House in 2010, McKinley hasn’t faced a primary challenger since that year, when he topped a field of six candidates. He then defeated then-Democrat Mike Oliverio, 50.4% to 49.6%, to win the seat. Oliverio had toppled longtime incumbent Rep. Alan Mollohan in the primary, 55.91% to 44.09%.
From 2012 on, McKinley enjoyed comparatively wide margins of victory over his Democratic challengers in the general elections: 62.48% to 37.52% in 2012; 63.96% to 36.04% in 2014; 68.97% to 31.03% in 2016; and 64.58% to 35.42% in 2018.
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
