1992 West Virginia gubernatorial election

← 1988

November 7, 1992

1996 →


Nominee	Gaston Caperton	Cleve Benedict	Charlotte Pritt (write-in)
Party	Democratic	Republican	Independent
Popular vote	368,302	240,390	48,873
Percentage	56.0%	36.6%	7.4%

County results
Caperton: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
Benedict: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%

Governor before election

Gaston Caperton
Democratic

Elected Governor

Gaston Caperton
Democratic

Elections in West Virginia

Federal government

Presidential elections
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State government

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2024
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Local government

Charleston (mayoral elections)
2022
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2020 2024
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2020 2024

The 1992 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1992. Incumbent Democratic Governor Gaston Caperton won re-election by defeating former Republican U.S. Representative Cleve Benedict and Democratic State Senator Charlotte Pritt, who ran as an independent write-in candidate after losing to Caperton in the Democratic primary election. Benedict had defeated Vernon Criss for his party's nomination; this was the only election between 1964 and 2000 that the Republicans had nominated someone other than Arch A. Moore or Cecil H. Underwood. Until 2020 this is the last time West Virginia has voted for the same party for Governor and for President, as both elections are held concurrently in the state. This is the most recent time that Democrats won both races concurrently.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Gaston Caperton, Incumbent
Charlotte Pritt, State Senator
Mario Palumbo, Incumbent Attorney General
Larry Butcher
Rodger Belknap

West Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary, 1992^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gaston Caperton (incumbent)	142,261	42.68%
	Democratic	Charlotte Pritt	115,498	34.65%
	Democratic	Mario Palumbo	66,984	20.10%
	Democratic	Larry Butcher	4,994	1.50%
	Democratic	Rodger Belknap	3,590	1.08%
Total votes			333,327	100.00%

Results

West Virginia gubernatorial election, 1992^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gaston Caperton (incumbent)	368,302	56.01%
	Republican	Cleve Benedict	240,390	36.56%
	Independent	Charlotte Pritt (write-in)	48,873	7.43%
Total votes			657,565	100.00%
	Democratic hold

v t e West Virginia gubernatorial elections
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