House Democrats Introduce NAACP-Requested Resolution For Morrisey Impeachment

A resolution introduced in the House of Delegates calls on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate state attorney general Patrick Morrisey and his involvement in an unsuccessful lawsuit questioning the results of the 2020 election.

West Virginia was one of 17 states that joined the Texas attorney general in a legal effort challenging 2020 election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — states where president Joe Biden won over Donald Trump.

These also were states where the West Virginia NAACP says there was unprecedented Black voter turnout. Owens Brown, president of the state chapter, said the group requested House Resolution 15, filed by Dels. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, and Danielle Walker, D-Monongalia, as a result.

“His judgement, we cannot trust him,” said Brown of Morrisey. “I feel as though, as a citizen of West Virginia, an African American citizen, I cannot trust him.”

Morrisey was unavailable for comment Thursday, but spokesperson Curtis Johnson for his office said the resolution itself was “frivolous” and a “political stunt.”

Johnson wrote in an email that the resolution “demonstrates a lack of leadership and the degree to which they are out of step with the West Virginia voters, an electorate for which, ironically, they themselves seek to disenfranchise in nullifying the votes of all races, ethnicities and creeds that elected the Attorney General.”

The resolution, introduced in the House on Thursday, has been referred to House Judiciary, according to the legislative website.

House leadership did not respond to a request for comment on whether House Republicans would take up the resolution.

Pushkin acknowledged that it was a longshot in a state legislature where there’s a Republican supermajority in both chambers, but he believes it meets the state’s definition of maladministration, an impeachable offense.

“It was maladministration to involve West Virginia, knowing that they weren’t going to win the lawsuit,” Pushkin said of Morrisey. “He chose to enter the lawsuit just to appeal to his base.”

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.