West Virginia

West Virginia state law limits a governor's authority to deploy the state's National Guard out of state to specific purposes such as responding to a natural disaster or to another state's emergency assistance request.

In 2025, the West Virginia Citizen Action Group asserted that West Virginia law limits the governor's authority to deploy the state National Guard out of state to specific purposes such as responding to a natural disaster or another state's emergency request.

As of November 2025, approximately 16% of West Virginia residents relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food assistance program.

West Virginia had one of the highest poverty rates among U.S. states as of November 2025.

West Virginia law restricts out-of-state deployment of the West Virginia National Guard to certain purposes, such as responding to a natural disaster or another state's emergency request.

Opponents in West Virginia have argued that, under West Virginia state law, the governor may deploy the National Guard out of state only for specified purposes such as responding to a natural disaster or acting at another state's emergency request.

A 2024 Trust for America's Health report found that 19 U.S. states had adult obesity rates at or above 35%.

An analysis by Trust for America's Health of CDC's 2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data found that 19 states had adult obesity prevalence of 35% or higher, 22 states had prevalence between 30% and 35%, and nine states had prevalence below 30%; state adult obesity prevalence ranged from about 25% in Colorado to over 40% in West Virginia.

The first U.S. food stamp pilot program began in West Virginia in the 1960s.

The Monongah coal mine explosion in West Virginia in 1907 killed 362 men and boys and is an example of a historically deadly workplace accident in the United States.

Delegates at the Wheeling Convention in western Virginia voted to separate from Virginia, resulting in the creation of the state of West Virginia in June 1863.

Much of the territory that became West Virginia historically opposed slavery or had low levels of slavery in the period immediately before the American Civil War.

Some U.S. states, including West Virginia and Idaho, have enacted laws that prohibit individuals designated male at birth (often described in reporting as 'biological males') from participating in girls' or women's sports.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a legal advocacy organization that has represented plaintiffs and states in litigation seeking to restrict the participation of transgender women in girls' and women's sports, including cases originating in Idaho and West Virginia.