| Election Name: | 1996 West Virginia gubernatorial election |
| Country: | West Virginia |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1992 West Virginia gubernatorial election |
| Previous Year: | 1992 |
| Next Election: | 2000 West Virginia gubernatorial election |
| Next Year: | 2000 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Image1: | File:Cecil Underwood 1998 (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Cecil Underwood |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 324,518 |
| Percentage1: | 51.6% |
| Nominee2: | Charlotte Pritt |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 287,870 |
| Percentage2: | 45.8% |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | Gaston Caperton |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Cecil Underwood |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 1996 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1996 to elect the Governor of West Virginia. Republican Cecil Underwood, who had previously been the Governor of West Virginia from 1957 to 1961, defeated Democratic State Senator Charlotte Pritt. Concurrently, the state voted the opposite way federally, choosing Democratic U.S. Presidential nominee, incumbent Bill Clinton over Republican nominee Bob Dole in the Presidential election that year.
Pritt was the first woman to secure the West Virginia gubernatorial nomination of either of the two major political parties. This was the last election in which a Republican was elected Governor of West Virginia until 2020. Former Republican Jim Justice was elected in the 2016 election as a Democrat and later switched back to the Republican Party seven months into his term, making him the first Republican governor since 2001 when Underwood left office.