Democrat leads in deep-red W.Va. House district

Democratic state Sen. Richard Ojeda is leading the race for West Virginia’s open 3rd Congressional District, a poll released Thursday shows, despite the fact that President Trump won the district by more than 50 points in 2016.

Monmouth University polled the district using two distinct likely voter projections—one assuming a typical midterm electorate turns out in November, and another predicting a Democratic surge in opposition to Trump.

In the typical midterm model, Ojeda leads state Del. Carol Miller (R) by 6 points, 48 percent to 39 percent. His lead grows to 9 points when screening for a Democratic surge.

{mosads}Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, pegged the lead on Ojeda’s personal story. He’s a former Army paratrooper who was been a vocal supporter of the state teacher’s strike. While he voted for President Trump in 2016, he’s been open with his disagreements with the president.

“Unlike other hotly contested House races in the country where dislike of the president is giving Democrats a boost, this West Virginia district seems to be competitive because the Democratic candidate has his own populist persona. But neither candidate is particularly well know yet, so this dynamic could change,” Murray said.

The majority of voters has no opinion on either candidate. Among those who do have opinions, both candidates have a double-digit net-favorability rating.

Hill.TV:

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–This report was updated at 2:23 p.m.