Could Democrats flip a West Virginia district Trump won by 49 points?

Donald Trump ran up huge numbers in West Virginia’s 3rd district, but Democrat Richard Ojeda has a real shot

IGOR DERYSH
OCTOBER 13, 2018 10:00AM (UTC)

West Virginia's 3rd congressional district is among the most conservative in the nation, but a new poll shows Democrats are making this year's race very competitive.

The district had been represented by Rep. Evan Jenkins, a former Democrat himself, who vacated the seat to stage an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican Senate nomination. (State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the Republican primary, and will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin next month.) Now, two polls show split results in the race to replace Jenkins, which pits Democratic state Sen. Richard Ojeda, a retired Army officer, against Republican Carol Miller, a member of the state House of Delegates.

An Emerson poll conducted Sept. 13-15 showed Ojeda leading by five points among 274 registered voters. A New York Times/Siena poll, which sampled 499 likely voters in early September, found Miller leading by eight points. An earlier Monmouth poll conducted in June had Ojeda up by six.

The race should be a lock for the GOP, given that Donald Trump won West Virginia's 3rd district by 49 points in 2016. FiveThirtyEight rates the district 37 percent more conservative than the country as a whole. But Ojeda is no stranger to converting Trump supporters: He won his state Senate election by 18 points, in a district Trump carried by 59.

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https://www.salon.com/2018/10/13/could-democrats-flip-a-west-virginia-district-trump-won-by-49-points/