The announcement from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., that he will not seek a sixth term in 2014, would seem to give Republicans a big opening in a state that has gone deep red in recent presidential elections.
But West Virginia's animus toward recent Democrats in the White House, especially President Obama, doesn't necessarily translate into Republican advantages in statewide races.
Both senators, the state's governor and one of its three members of the House are Democrats. And the state that produced legendary Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd (who brought the state "billions of dollars for highways, federal offices, research institutes and dams," as The New York Times noted in its 2010 obituary) hasn't elected a Republican senator since the 1950s.
"As I approach 50 years of public service in West Virginia, I've decided that 2014 will be the right moment for me to find new ways to fight for the causes I believe in and to spend more time with my incredible family," Rockefeller announced in a statement.
Rockefeller, 75, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has been a senator for 28 years from his adopted home state.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., already had said she would run for Rockefeller's Senate seat in 2014.
The Washington Post reports that a slew of Democrats could be in the mix as well:
"The crowded 2011 Democratic gubernatorial primary may offer hints about which Democrats are likely to take the plunge in the Senate race. The runners up to current Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin include Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, state House Speaker Rick Thompson, and state Treasurer John Perdue, among others. The state's only Democrat in the House delegation, Rep. Nick Rahall, is another possibility, as is former Sen. Carte Goodwin, who served for a brief stint in 2010."