Shelley Moore Capito

She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from West Virginia and the first Republican to win a full term in the Senate from West Virginia since 1942.

Shelley Wellons Moore Capito (born November 26, 1953) is an American politician and retired educator serving in her second term as the junior United States senator from West Virginia, a post she has held since 2015.

She is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and represented West Virginia as the 1972 Cherry Blossom Princess.

After earning her master's degree, Capito was a career counselor at West Virginia State University and director of the educational information center for the West Virginia Board of Regents.

She was the first Republican to represent West Virginia in Congress since 1983, as well as the first woman elected to Congress from West Virginia who was not the widow of a member of Congress.

Capito was reelected, defeating Humphreys again, 60%–40%.

Capito was reelected to a third term, defeating former newscaster Erik Wells 57%–41%.

Capito was elected to Kanawha County's seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1996, and served two terms, from 1996 to 2000.

When U.S. Representative Bob Wise ran for governor in 2000, Capito ran as a Republican for the open seat in West Virginia's 2nd district.

She defeated the Democratic nominee, lawyer Jim Humphreys, by two percentage points.

A member of the Republican Party, Capito served seven terms as the U.S. representative from West Virginia's 2nd congressional district from 2001 to 2015.

The daughter of three-term West Virginia governor Arch Alfred Moore Jr., she is the dean of West Virginia's congressional delegation.

Capito was mentioned as a possible challenger to Senator Robert Byrd in 2006, but opted to run for reelection to the House.

She was reelected to a fourth term, defeating West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Callaghan, 57%–43%.

Capito was reelected to a fifth term, defeating Anne Barth, a former aide to Byrd, 57%–43%.

Capito was mentioned as a possible challenger to Joe Manchin for the vacated United States Senate seat of the late Robert Byrd.

She decided against a Senate bid, and was reelected to a sixth term, defeating Virginia Lynch Graf, 68%–30%.

After redistricting, Capito was challenged in the Republican primary.

She defeated Delegate Jonathan Miller and Michael Davis.

She was reelected to a seventh term, defeating former gubernatorial aide Howard Swint, 70%–30%.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Capito is a former chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus and the Afterschool Caucuses.

After the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, Capito founded the Congressional Coal Caucus.

Capito served on the House Page Board during the Mark Foley congressional page incident, in which Foley, a Republican representative from Florida, sent sexually explicit messages to teenage boys who had previously served as congressional pages.

According to Capito, she wasn't aware of Foley's conduct until informed by the press.

Capito was the only Republican in West Virginia's congressional delegation until 2011, and the first Republican woman elected to Congress from West Virginia.

On November 26, 2012, Capito announced her candidacy for the United States Senate in 2014, intending to challenge Democratic incumbent Jay Rockefeller, who subsequently announced his retirement.

Despite initial protests from Tea Party groups and anti-establishment conservatives that her House voting record was "too liberal", Capito won 87% of the Republican primary vote, and defeated Democratic Secretary of State Natalie Tennant in the general election, 62% to 34%.

On January 5, 2016, Mitch McConnell appointed Capito as counsel to the majority leader, along with Rob Portman and Deb Fischer.

=== Committee assignments ===

Capito has voted with her party 96% of the time.

She is considered relatively moderate and has crossed the aisle on some votes.

Swearengin, a progressive activist whose 2018 U.S. Senate campaign was featured in the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, defeated state senator Richard Ojeda and former South Charleston mayor Richie Robb in the Democratic primary race.

In the November general election, Capito defeated Swearengin with over 70% of the vote.

She was reelected in 2020, defeating Democratic nominee Paula Jean Swearengin, and becoming the first West Virginia Republican reelected to the Senate since 1907.

Since 2021, she has served as the ranking member of the Senate Environment Committee.

Shelley Wellons Moore Capito was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, the daughter of Shelley (née Riley) and Arch Alfred Moore Jr., who served three terms as the state's governor.

A resident of Charleston, Capito was educated at the Holton-Arms School, a private college-preparatory school in Bethesda, Maryland; Duke University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in zoology; and the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development, where she earned her master's degree.

In her 2020 reelection campaign, Capito easily defeated Republican primary challengers Allen Whitt and Larry Butcher, before facing Democratic nominee Paula Jean Swearengin in the general election.