Why did West Virginia have an "extra" realignment?

[Indy Texas]

When West Virginia was formed, it became a Republican stronghold because of its strong anti-secession orientation.

But in the 1920s-1940s, it seemed to undergo a dramatic shift towards the Democratic Party. This happened when no other significant realignments were taking place in the country.

Today, the state is trending Republican along with Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee, which weren't as affected by the race-based shift to the GOP that had begun in the Deep South after the 1960s.

While the current realignment makes sense, why did the state sour on the Republican Party early in the 20th century?

Most of the other Union states in the Civil War have had a long term shift from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party (the Northeast and Upper Midwest) or stayed in the Republican Party (the Great Plains, Indiana). The ex-Confederate states have had a long term shift from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. West Virginia is the only case I can see of a shift from the Republicans to the Democrats back to the Republicans.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

One word: Coal.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Because West Virginia is basically the poster child for the New Deal.

[Indy Texas]

One word: Coal.

I get why coal is creating the current D-to-R shift. Why did it create an R-to-D shift in the early 20th century?

[morgieb]

One word: Coal.

I get why coal is creating the current D-to-R shift. Why did it create an R-to-D shift in the early 20th century?

Voted Republican due to the place staying loyal to the Union during the Civil War. It switched as industry stuck with the New Deal.

[traininthedistance]

One word: Coal.

I get why coal is creating the current D-to-R shift. Why did it create an R-to-D shift in the early 20th century?

Unions.

[Miles]

One word: Coal.

I get why coal is creating the current D-to-R shift. Why did it create an R-to-D shift in the early 20th century?

Voted Republican due to the place staying loyal to the Union during the Civil War. It switched as industry stuck with the New Deal.

I agree with this.

It was Republican since the Civil War because of pro-Union sentiments, but it shifted Democratic for economic reasons.

[Sopranos Republican]

West Virginia was Republican after the Ciivil War, because they wanted to stay with the party that was definitely at the time, more loyal to the Union, Democratic for the better part of a century, because of the deal, and being pro union, and now becoming Republican once again because of coal, and the fact that West Virginia is a relatively conservative state. Pretty much all of what the above posters said.

[freepcrusher]

before the 1940s, West Virginia was a politically schizophrenic state. Look at its PVI
1864 R+13.2
1868 R+6.1
1872 D+3.6
1876 D+5.9
1880 D+5.3
1884 D+1.3
1888 R+0.2
1892 R+0.4
1896 R+0.5
1900 R+1.6
1904 D+3.2
1908 R+0.8
1912 D+2.2
1916 R+2.1
1920 D+7.8
1924 D+12.3
1928 D+0.1
1932 R+4
1936 R+1.8

[jimrtex]

One word: Coal.

I get why coal is creating the current D-to-R shift. Why did it create an R-to-D shift in the early 20th century?

United Mine Workers

Being Unionist does not necessarily mean being a Republican.  West Virginians did not necessarily not identify as southerners or Virginians, but resented the control by the eastern part of the state.

West Virginia also had a huge growth in population.  In 1860 it had 31% of the population of Virginia, by 1920 this had increased to 71%.  Many of the miners, both white and black, migrated from the South.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And of course that population growth was directly linked to industrialisation.