1988Flipped from RepublicanFinal results
1988 election for West Virginia Governor
Governor · West Virginia
Gaston Caperton (D) won with 58.9% of the vote, defeating Arch A. Moore Jr (R) by 17.7 points, a seat Republicans won last time.
Gaston CapertonDemocrat · winner
58.9%382,421
Arch A. Moore JrRepublican
41.1%267,172
649,593 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1988
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET