Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., speaks to reporters after a Republican political luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on December 2, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., will seek re-election to retain her U.S. Senate seat, Senate campaign filings show West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office.
Capito filed her re-election paperwork with the office on Tuesday. So far, state Sen. Tom Willis, R-Berkeley, and Janet McNulty, a children’s author from Martinsburg, West Virginia, have also filed to run as Republicans, challenging Capito for her seat.
Capito was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014. Previously, she served multiple terms in the U.S. House of Representatives – from 2000 to 2015 – where she represented the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Capito, the daughter of former West Virginia Gov. Arch Moore, began her political career representing Kanawha County in the state House of Representatives for two terms, from 1996 to 2000.
Her election in 2014 marked the first time in 56 years that a Republican was elected to represent West Virginia in the U.S. Senate. She is the first woman from a party to hold this office in the state.
Capito said on social media this week that more than 50 members of the state House of Representatives have supported her bid for re-election. In the Senate — where her main rival, Willis, holds the office — at least 14 current members have done the same.
Willis, a lawyer and businessman by profession, has not yet completed his first term in the Statehouse. He is from Hedgesville and describes himself as a “Christian constitutional conservative.” Last monthSenate President Randy Smith appointed Willis as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Willis was elected to the state Senate in November 2024 to represent the Fifth District, which includes portions of Berkeley, Morgan and Hampshire counties. Before the general election, Willis unseated longtime Republican Senate President Craig Blair in the 2024 primary. Blair held his seat for twelve years.
According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, Capito has done so to date almost $4 million available for her re-election campaign. Willis until now has raised just over $200,000. McNulty Reports about $300 per FEC.
On the Democratic side is Zach Shrewsbury, who lost his previous Senate bid after being defeated in the primary by former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott 2024 Democratic primaryy – Reports I have almost $150,000 on hand. Rio Phillips, a community organizer who is also running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, almost has $7,000 according to the FEC.
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