| Election Name: | 2020 West Virginia gubernatorial election |
| Country: | West Virginia |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2016 West Virginia gubernatorial election |
| Previous Year: | 2016 |
| Next Election: | 2024 West Virginia gubernatorial election |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Election Date: | November 3, 2020 |
| Image1: | File:Jim Justice in November 2021.jpg |
| Nominee1: | Jim Justice |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 497,944 |
| Percentage1: | 63.49% |
| Nominee2: | Ben Salango |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 237,024 |
| Percentage2: | 30.22% |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | Jim Justice |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Jim Justice |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 2020 West Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the governor of West Virginia, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Governor Jim Justice announced his 2020 re-election campaign on January 7, 2019.[1] Justice was elected in 2016 as a Democrat, but later switched back to the Republican Party at a campaign rally with Donald Trump.[2] Justice won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic Kanawha County commissioner Ben Salango. Justice's re-election made him the first Republican to be elected governor of West Virginia since Cecil Underwood in 1996. Additionally, Justice became the first incumbent Republican governor to win re-election since Arch A. Moore Jr. in 1972, as well as the first Republican to carry all counties in West Virginia. However, Justice performed worse than Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who outperformed Justice by 5.13 percentage points. Additionally, Salango slightly outperformed Biden by 0.53 percentage points.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Jim Justice | Mike Folk | Woody Thrasher | Other / Undecided | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triton Polling & Research/WMOV | May 18–26, 2020 | 719 (LV) | ± 3.7% | 53% | 15% | 14% | 18% | ||
| WPA Intelligence (R) | December 16–18, 2019 | 502 (LV) | ± 4.4% | 38% | 6% | 30% | 26%' | ||
| Research America Inc. | December 4–9, 2019 | 229 (LV) | – | 56% | 11% | 21% | 12% | ||
| Public Opinion Strategies (R) | August 24–25, 2019 | – | – | 56% | – | 26% | 18% | ||
| Research America Inc. | August 14–22, 2019 | 216 (LV) | – | 53% | 12% | 19% | 17%' | ||
| WPA Intelligence | August 13–14, 2019 | 509 (V) | – | 38% | 11% | 23% | 28% | ||
| WPA Intelligence | March 7–10, 2019 | 509 (V) | – | 58% | 5% | 5% | 32% |