1978Final results
1978 Democratic primary for West Virginia Delegate District 16
West Virginia House of Delegates · West Virginia
Earl Ray Tomblin (D) won with 18.7% of the vote, defeating Claude Ellis (D) by 8.7 points.
Earl Ray TomblinDemocrat · winner · incumbent
18.7%8,119
Charles GilliamDemocrat · winner · incumbent
18.1%7,863
Thomas W. MathisDemocrat · winner · incumbent
16.1%6,990
Sammie DaltonDemocrat · winner · incumbent
15.6%6,766
Claude EllisDemocrat
10.0%4,340
Gary O. HokeDemocrat
7.7%3,343
Larry HendricksDemocrat
7.3%3,177
James A. TrentDemocrat
6.7%2,905
43,503 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET