State Senator Tom Willis (R, Berkeley) is the latest to enter the 2026 race against sitting U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito. That makes three challengers to Capito so far in the Primary Election: Willis, Alexander Gaaserud and Derrick Evans.
(Ogden Newspapers reporter Steven Allen Adams has more on the race here.)
First, some background about Capito’s challengers.
Willis pulled an upset in the 2024 Republican Primary when he defeated incumbent Senate President Craig Blair and went on to win election to the 15th Senatorial District. Prior to that, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018, finishing fourth a six-way race with ten percent of the vote. (Patrick Morrisey won the Primary, then lost to Joe Manchin in the General Election).
Evans was among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was arrested and pleaded guilty to felony civil disorder. He went to prison for three months. Upon his release, he posted online that he was “held captive as a political prisoner” and that he stood by the claim at that 2020 election was stolen. He and most of the others who participated in the Capitol attack were pardoned by President Trump earlier this year.
Before all that, Evans won a seat to the state House of Delegates but never wound up serving. Last year, Evans ran for Congress but lost to incumbent Republican Carol Miller by a 65,343 to 38,466 vote margin.
Gaaserud ran for the Republican nomination to West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District seat in 2024. He finished last in a five person race with seven percent of the vote. (Riley Moore won the Primary and then defeated Steven Wendelin in the General Election).
Capito must allow herself a little smile every time another candidate gets in the race against her. The more crowded the field, the more likely it is that the challengers will simply split up the anti-Capito vote. Republicans who want a clean shot at Capito should figure out a way to get behind just one challenger
But even if that happens, taking on Capito is the definition of a political uphill battle.
Capito won her first federal race in 2000 when she narrowly defeated Democrat Jim Humphreys in the 2nd District Congressional race, but since then, no challenger has laid a glove on her…either in her House races and more recently the U.S. Senate.
One of the reasons is that Capito is a grinder. She has risen to the number four position in the Senate Republican caucus, avoids unnecessary fights and constantly returns to the state where she maintains a high profile.
Her work in the state is typically nonpartisan. Most recently, she has been pressing Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to restore job cuts at the federal National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health facility in Morgantown.
Capito’s efforts have earned her praise from United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, a union leader who is traditionally more aligned with Democrats. “I think she’s worked hard this,” Roberts told MetroNews reporter Brad McElhinny during a rally in Washington last week. “Some people don’t agree with me on this, but I give credit where credit’s due.”
She also has just enough MAGA cred. She supports Trump and his policies, but she doesn’t get caught up in the fever dream like some on the Trump bandwagon. That irritates the far right, which is why she has MAGA-inspired opponents — but consider what Trump said about her in social media post earlier this month.
“Senator Shelley Moore Capito is doing a tremendous job representing the Wonderful People of West Virginia, a State I love and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump said while adding that she “has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election. SHE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN.”
Capito also starts with a significant fundraising advantage. The most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission ending March 31 shows Capito with $2.7 million on hand compared with $78,369 for Evans and zero for Gaaserud. There was no filing yet for Willis.
Winston Churchill said, “Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.” Shelley Moore Capito has spent a lifetime perfecting her own business model of politics. She has it down to a science that, if she chooses, will likely lead her to another victory in 2026.