Delegate Tim Armstead is Elected as House Speaker

In a historic first day to the 82^nd Legislative Session, Republicans are now the majority in the House, and Republican Delegate, Tim Armstead was elected as House Speaker.

For the first time in 80 years, Republicans have taken majority in the House.

Delegate Tim Armstead has now taken over Delegate Tim Miley’s seat as House Speaker. Armstead says there’s a large volume of work that needs to be addressed in the coming weeks, but wants both Democrats and Republicans to be able to work together.

“And when we have challenges that we need to face, we need to face those challenges, not as someone said today looking at problems but looking at solutions, and there are a lot of solutions that we can bring to this chamber,” said Armstead, “We can debate them, we can discuss them, we can pass them, we can put them into law and help to solve many of the challenges that West Virginian’s face today.”

Armstead says he hopes the House will focus on a range of issues from child poverty, education, jobs, dealing with drug addiction, and much more. But he kept reiterating in regard to all these issues, saying, “We can do better.”

“This transition has been said to be historic in so many ways,” noted Armstead, “It will only truly be historic to West Virginians when it touches their lives.”