2016 West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture election

2016 West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture election

November 8, 2016 (2016-11-08)
 
Nominee Kent Leonhardt Walt Helmick Buddy Guthrie
Party Republican Democratic Libertarian
Popular vote 321,560 274,191 68,502
Percentage 48.41% 41.28% 10.31%

County results
Leonhardt:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Helmick:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Commissioner of Agriculture before election

Walt Helmick
Democratic

Elected Commissioner of Agriculture

Kent Leonhardt
Republican

The 2016 West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture, concurrently with elections for president of the United States, the U.S. House of Representatives, governor, and other state and local elections.

Incumbent Democratic commissioner Walt Helmick, the only remaining Democratic agriculture commissioner in the United States at the time of the election, lost re-election to Republican state senator Kent Leonhardt in a rematch of the 2012 election for the same office. Libertarian candidate Buddy Guthrie received over 10% of the vote, the highest third-party vote share of any single candidate in West Virginia in 2016.