What if West Virginia never split off from Virginia?

[ElectionsGuy]

To show the relationship between the results, I decided to combine them. From 1872-1892, they vote about the same. From 1896-1948, Virginia votes more democratic than West Virginia. From 1952-2004 Virginia votes more republican than West Virginia. And now were back to Virginia being more democratic. They disagree on results 18 times throughout the history. 13 times out of 18, the Virginia side wins over the vote (1896, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1916, 1924, 1952, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 2008), 5 out of 17 times West Virginia wins over the vote (1920, 1960, 1976, 1996, 2012). Its also important to note that for a period of time (I think about 1904 until 1960) West Virginia cast more votes than Virginia, despite having less population.

1872:

Ulysses Grant (R): 125,783 (50.8%)
Horace Greeley (D): 121,179 (48.9%)

1876:

Samuel Tilden (D): 197,316 (58.7%)
Rutherford Hayes (R): 137,515 (40.9%)

1880:

Winfield Hancock (D): 185,473 (57.2%)
James Garfield (R): 129,776 (40.0%)

1884:

Grover Cleveland (D): 212,802 (51.0%)
James Blaine (R): 202,452 (48.5%)

1888:

Grover Cleveland (D): 230,681 (49.8%)
Benjamin Harrison (R): 228,570 (49.3%)

1892:

Grover Cleveland (D): 248,603 (53.7%)
Benjamin Harrison (R): 193,390 (41.7%)

1896:

William Bryan (D): 249,188 (50.2%)
William McKinley (R): 240,758 (48.5%)

1900:

William Bryan (D): 244,886 (50.5%)
William McKinley (R): 235,598 (48.6%)

1904:

Alton Parker (D): 181,504 (49.0%)
Theodore Roosevelt (R): 180,800 (48.8%)

1908:

William Bryan (D): 194,364 (49.2%)
William Taft (R): 190,441 (48.2%)

1912:

Woodrow Wilson (D): 203,529 (50.2%)
Theodore Roosevelt (Prog): 100,889 (24.9%)
William Taft (R): 80,042 (19.7%)

1916:

Woodrow Wilson (D): 243,227 (54.8%)
Charles Hughes (R): 192,480 (43.4%)

1920:

Warren Harding (R): 369,463 (49.9%)
James Cox (D): 362,459 (48.9%)

1924:

John Davis (D): 396,948 (49.2%)
Calvin Coolidge (R): 361,947 (44.8%)
Robert LaFollette (Prog): 47,100 (5.8%)

1928:

Herbert Hoover (R): 540,160 (57.0%)
Alfred Smith (D): 403,930 (42.6%)

1932:

Franklin Roosevelt (D): 609,103 (58.5%)
Herbert Hoover (R): 420,368 (40.4%)

1936:

Franklin Roosevelt (D): 737,562 (63.3%)
Alfred Landon (R): 423,694 (36.4%)

1940:

Franklin Roosevelt (D): 731,623 (60.2%)
Wendell Willkie (R): 481,777 (39.7%)

1944:

Franklin Roosevelt (D): 635,053 (57.5%)
Thomas Dewey (R): 468,062 (42.4%)

1948:

Harry Truman (D): 629,974 (53.9%)
Thomas Dewey (R): 488,321 (41.8%)

1952:

Dwight Eisenhower (R): 769,007 (51.5%)
Adlai Stevenson (D): 722,255 (48.4%)

1956:

Dwight Eisenhower (R): 835,756 (54.7%)
Adlai Stevenson (D): 649,294 (42.5%)

1960:

John Kennedy (D): 804,113 (50.0%)
Richard Nixon (R): 800,516  (49.7%)

1964:

Lyndon Johnson (D): 1,096,125 (59.8%)
Barry Goldwater (R): 735,287 (40.1%)

1968:

Richard Nixon (R): 897,874 (42.4%)
Hubert Humphrey (D): 816,478 (38.6%)
George Wallace (AI): 394,393 (18.6%)

1972:

Richard Nixon (R): 1,473,457 (66.4%)
George McGovern (D): 716,322 (32.3%)

1976:

Jimmy Carter (D): 1,249,810 (51.1%)
Gerald Ford (R): 1,151,314 (47.0%)

1980:

Ronald Reagan (R): 1,323,815 (50.8%)
Jimmy Carter (D): 1,119,636 (43.0%)

1984:

Ronald Reagan (R): 1,742,561 (60.5%)
Walter Mondale (D): 1,124,375 (39.0%)

1988:

George H.W. Bush (R): 1,619,227 (56.9%)
Michael Dukakis (D): 1,200,815 (42.2%)

1992:

George H.W. Bush (R): 1,392,491 (42.9%)
Bill Clinton (D): 1,369,651 (42.2%)
Ross Perot (I): 457,468 (14.1%)

1996:

Bill Clinton (D): 1,418,872 (46.5%)
Bob Dole (R): 1,372,296 (44.9%)
Ross Perot (I): 231,500 (7.6%)

2000:

George W. Bush (R): 1,773,965 (52.4%)
Al Gore (D): 1,512,787 (44.7%)

2004:

George W. Bush (R): 2,140,737 (54.1%)
John Kerry (D): 1,781,283 (45.0%)

2008:

Barack Obama (D): 2,263,389 (51.0%)
John McCain (R): 2,122,471 (47.8%)

2012:

Mitt Romney (R): 2,240,177 (49.5%)
Barack Obama (D): 2,210,089 (48.8%)

[Free Bird]

It's official. I'm going back in time and stopping the split

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

WVa during Byrd yrs was Dem dominated, while VA was GOP favored during 60's.

It started changing when John Warner, who wasnt a segregationalist was elected to senate.

The two have flipped sides, and it is Va who plays the bellweather status, not WVa.

[Vosem]

WVa during Byrd yrs was Dem dominated, while VA was GOP favored during 60's.

It started changing when John Warner, who wasnt a segregationalist was elected to senate.

On the contrary, the Byrd machine dominated Virginia, not West Virginia. John Warner's election in 1978 was long after the end of its dominance, though some figures still held office then (like Harry Byrd, Jr.). William Spong's victory in the Democratic Senate primary in 1966, Harry Byrd Sr.'s death that same year, and Linwood Holton being elected Governor in 1969 were the nails in the coffin. Warner was elected to the Senate some ten years later.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Ate you referring to Byrds of different feathers?

[MATTROSE94]

WVa during Byrd yrs was Dem dominated, while VA was GOP favored during 60's.

It started changing when John Warner, who wasnt a segregationalist was elected to senate.

On the contrary, the Byrd machine dominated Virginia, not West Virginia. John Warner's election in 1978 was long after the end of its dominance, though some figures still held office then (like Harry Byrd, Jr.). William Spong's victory in the Democratic Senate primary in 1966, Harry Byrd Sr.'s death that same year, and Linwood Holton being elected Governor in 1969 were the nails in the coffin. Warner was elected to the Senate some ten years later.

William Spong would have been the first Senator from Virginia who I would have been willing to support and Linwood Holton would have likewise been one of the first Governors of Virginia that I would have supported. I doubt that I would have ever voted for either Harry Byrd Sr. or Harry Byrd Jr. in any of their Senate races due to my ideological differences with them on racial issues.

[Mr. Morden]

Obviously this wouldn't have flipped any presidential races (because the only sufficiently close races were 1876 and 2000, and both states voted the same way in both cases), but I wonder if having the one state instead of two would have ever flipped the Senate, compared to who controlled it in real life.  Who would the Senators have been in 2001-2002 for example, when the margin of control in the Senate was one seat?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Obviously this wouldn't have flipped any presidential races (because the only sufficiently close races were 1876 and 2000, and both states voted the same way in both cases), but I wonder if having the one state instead of two would have ever flipped the Senate, compared to who controlled it in real life.  Who would the Senators have been in 2001-2002 for example, when the margin of control in the Senate was one seat?

If you combined 2 states that voted for Hayes, Tilden wins. But they voted for Tilden.