1980Final resultsIncumbent defeated
1980 Democratic primary for West Virginia Senate District 12
West Virginia State Senate · West Virginia
Jae Spears (D) won with 42.4% of the vote, defeating Richard Benson (D) by 11.9 points.
Jae SpearsDemocrat · winner
42.4%9,527
Richard BensonDemocrat · incumbent
30.5%6,853
D. P. GivenDemocrat
27.2%6,105
22,485 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET