Shelley Moore Capito


Shelley Wellons Moore Capito is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia. A member of the Republican Party, Capito served from 2001 to 2015 as the U.S. representative from. She is the daughter of three-term West Virginia governor and six-term U.S. representative Arch Alfred Moore Jr.
Capito was first elected to the Senate in 2014, becoming the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from West Virginia and the first West Virginia Republican to win a full term in the Senate since 1942. She was reelected in 2020.
Capito has chaired the Environment and Public Works Committee since 2025, and is the dean of West Virginia's congressional delegation.

Early life and education

Shelley Wellons Moore Capito was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, on November 26, 1953. She is the daughter of Shelley 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. She is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and represented West Virginia as the 1972 Cherry Blossom Princess.

Early career

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

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2000

When Democratic 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 in an upset. 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.

2002

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

2004

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

2006

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%.

2008

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

2010

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%.

2012

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

Capito is a former chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus, Rare Disease Caucus, and Afterschool Caucuses. After the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, Capito founded the Congressional Coal Caucus.

Tenure

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.

U.S. Senate

Elections

2014

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%.

2020

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. 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.

Tenure

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

Senate 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. In 2017, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that Capito was one of the three most moderate Republican senators according to a study by DW-NOMINATE. In 2023, The Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy ranked Capito in the top fifth among senators for bipartisanship. According to FiveThirtyEight, as of January 2023, Capito had voted with President Biden's position about 56% of the time.

Donald Trump's candidacy and presidency

In 2016, Capito raised concerns about Trump's tone and rhetoric during his presidential campaign. After the Access Hollywood tape emerged, Capito said he should "reexamine his candidacy". But she later said she supported Trump for president. In 2020, Capito said she would be "impartial" and "fair" to both sides during Trump's Senate trial after his second impeachment, and voted to acquit him. According to FiveThirtyEight, she had voted with the Trump administration's position 94.9% of the time.
As of November 19, 2020, Capito had not publicly acknowledged that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, though it had been called by all major media and analysts. By November 23, she issued a statement recognizing that Biden would be the next president. By December 5, she was among only 27 congressional Republicans to acknowledge Biden as the winner of the election. Trump subsequently attacked them, calling them RINOs.
On May 28, 2021, Capito voted against creating the January 6 commission. Asked about Trump's future role in the Republican Party, she said she partially blamed him for the "insurrection" and did not think he would be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. Capito eventually endorsed Trump in the 2024 election.

Social policy

Capito is a sponsor of the Gender Advancement in Pay Act, saying "it should be common sense that women and men get equal pay for equal work" and expressing concern about sex discrimination against women in the workplace. She is a sponsor of the Rural Access to Hospice Act to improve the quality, access, and retention of hospice facilities in rural parts of the nation. She opposes the Freedom to Vote Act which, among other reforms, would establish Election Day as a public holiday and "ensure states have early voting for federal elections, overhaul how congressional districts are redrawn and impose new disclosures on donations to outside groups active in political campaigns." On social policy, the National Journal gave Capito a score of 54% conservative and 43% liberal.

LGBT rights

Capito has a mixed record on LGBT issues. The Human Rights Campaign gave her a score of 30% in the 113th Congress and 64% in the 114th Congress. She received a 0% score in the 115th Congress and a 10% score in the 116th Congress.
In 2004 and 2006, Capito voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which intended to ban same-sex marriage in the United States. But in 2015, she said she believed marriage was a state issue. In 2007 Capito voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and against repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.
In 2009, Capito voted for the 2009-2010 Defense Appropriations bill, which expanded the legal definition of a hate crime to include crimes committed because of someone's gender identity. Also that year, she voted against legislation that defined hate crimes as including those committed because of someone's sexual orientation. In 2013, she voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which includes provisions to assist victims regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and prohibits funding programs that discriminate.
In 2015, Capito voted for an amendment to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act that provided support and protections for LGBT youth. In 2015, she voted to give same-sex married couples access to Social Security and veterans' benefits. In 2017, Capito disagreed with President Trump's use of Twitter to announce a ban on transgender troops in the military, saying, "we should be thankful for any American who selflessly serves our country to defend our freedoms." In 2021, she released a statement that she opposed the inclusion of trans youth in the sporting programs of their gender identity; in particular, she opposed the inclusion of trans girls in girls' sporting teams and introduced legislation to ban trans girls from participating.
In response to the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which found a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Capito said, "While I would have preferred that the Supreme Court leave this decision to the states, it is my hope that all West Virginians will move forward and continue to care for and respect one another." In November 2022, Capito was one of 12 Republicans voting to advance legislation, the Respect for Marriage Act, to codify same-sex marriage into federal law; referring to civil same-sex marriage as a "civil partnership," Capito said that the "legislation will allow those who have entered into a civil partnership since the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, to continue to have their partnerships respected for federal benefit purposes." She voted for the final passage of the Respect for Marriage Act on November 29, 2022.