| Morgantown businessman Bill Maloney, a first-time candidate, won the Republican nomination for governor in an upset over former secretary of state Betty Ireland.
State Senate President and acting governor Earl Ray Tomblin sailed to victory for the Democrats with 40% of the vote.
With 1,835 of 1,883 statewide precincts reporting, Maloney had 45 percent and Ireland had 31 percent, far outdistancing the next-closest candidate, state Sen. Clark Barnes, with 10 percent.
Jackson County resident Mitch Carmichael was low on the pole at 3 percent.
Putnam County prosecutor Mark Sorsaia, 5 percent; former delegate Larry Faircloth, 4 percent, and Delegate Mitch Carmichael, with 3 percent.
Tomblin's closest challenger, House Speaker Rick Thompson received 24 percent.
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, was getting 17 percent of the Democrat vote; State Treasurer John Perdue, with 13 percent; and acting Senate President Jeff Kessler, with 5 percent.
Tomblin and Maloney will face each other and Mountain Party candidate Bob Henry Baber in the Oct. 4 general election.
The winner of this race will serve slightly more than a year left in Manchin's term. | 
