Background, Evans beat a Black Rat, Marie Redd, the first Black legislator in State History, in the 2002 primary. She had beaten an incumbent Republican in 1998.
Redd was the first Black woman Senator. But, WV had Black legislators (delegates) before. One, Republican Christopher Payne, was elected way back in 1896.
Yet another served from McDowell County back in 1928 (the first Black woman (and Republican) to serve in any legislative body in any state, believe it or not). She replaced her husband, another Black Republican.
Minnie Buckingham Harper
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/259