The 1956 West Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1956 to elect the governor of West Virginia. Republican state delegate Cecil H. Underwood won the election over Democratic U.S. representative Bob Mollohan; he was the first Republican elected as governor of West Virginia since 1928 and one of the youngest elected governors in United States history at 34 years old.
Primary elections were held on August 5. In the Democratic primary, Mollohan defeated a divided field led by tax commissioner Milton J. Ferguson and West Virginia Senate clerk J. Howard Myers. In the Republican primary, Underwood narrowly defeated Charleston mayor John T. Coperhaver Sr.
Underwood's campaign was boosted only a week prior to the general election, when it was reported that Mollohan had accepted gifts from a coal operator on a stripe mine while Mollohan was a state prison superintendent at Pruntytown Correctional Center. Underwood won the general election by a surprisingly wide margin.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Joe F. Burdett, president of the West Virginia Board of Control
- Milton J. Ferguson, commissioner of the West Virginia Tax Division since 1953 and former state delegate from Wayne
- J. Howard Myers, clerk of the West Virginia Senate
- Bob Mollohan, U.S. representative from Fairmont
- Albert D. Viller
Republican primary
Candidates
- John T. Coperhaver Sr., mayor of Charleston
- Millard A. Holliday Sr.
- Cecil H. Underwood, state delegate from Sistersville
General election
Candidates
- Bob Mollohan, U.S. representative from Fairmont (Democratic)
- Cecil H. Underwood, state delegate from St. Marys (Republican)
Campaign
Although in the wake of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, educational desegregation was a live issue across much of the south and the border areas in 1956, it was less salient in West Virginia because Mollohan had not signed the Southern Manifesto and Underwood campaigned on continuing his William C. Marland's policy of desegregation of West Virginia schools and support of civil rights legislation.
Aftermath
Underwood's first act as governor was to go on television (a relatively new medium for political communication) and inform every state employee that they were fired. He argued that this was the only way to destroy the corrupt "machine" system. He later advocated an organized civil service and retirement pension system and provided temporary employment relief for low-income families.