Cecil Underwood

Cecil Underwood was a two-time Governor of West Virginia.

He first won election in 1956, the first Republican in nearly three decades to win the gubernatorial race in West Virginia. He turned 34 only one day before the election, making him the youngest Governor in West Virginia history. He was unable to run again under then-existing law and ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate, and was defeated in another attempt at Governor in 1964. He would lose in the primary in 1968, and would lose in the general election in 1976.

However, he would successfully become Governor again in 1996; at 74 he would become the oldest Governor in the state's history as well. However, he lost in his 2000 re-election bid, ending his political career.