West Virginia Congressional District Cook PVI Ratings

by: Clem Guttata

Sat Apr 11, 2009 at 19:06:03 PM EDT

WV 1 Mollohan, Alan B. (D) R+ 9
WV 2 CAPITO, SHELLEY MOORE (R) R+ 8
WV 3 Rahall, Nick J., II (D) R+ 6

I don't know if these rankings have any practical effect beyond putting firmer numbers on the recent trend of W.Va. supporting Republican presidential candidates.

Maybe the new numbers would give a casual observer a false sense that Reps. Mollohan and Rahall are more vulnerable to Republican challengers than either truly are. (Baring a major scandal the seats are super safe. Even in the case of an unexpected open seat, they'd be a difficult pickup for Republicans.)

Also, it may also make it slightly harder to get national attention for the Democratic challenger in WV-02 this cycle. On the other hand, there are fewer and fewer Republican seats to challenge each cycle, so even at R+8 WV-02 should still be seen as fair game.