State Lawmakers Move To Rename Highway For Former President Trump

The West Virginia House of Delegates is considering a resolution to name a section of highway after former President Donald Trump.

House Concurrent Resolution 53 would rename Interstate 68 from the Maryland state line to the intersection with Interstate 79 in Monongalia and Preston counties as “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

At a Thursday morning meeting of the House Technology and Infrastructure committee, Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, said local lawmakers had not been consulted, as is the usual practice for highway renaming.

“I wouldn’t sponsor a naming resolution to name a road after President Obama in Mineral County,” he said in an interview Thursday. “He shouldn’t sponsor one in Mon. County.”

The legislation is sponsored by two dozen Republican delegates with Del. Gary Howell, R-Mineral, as the lead sponsor.

The six delegates who represent the two counties the highway runs through did not sponsor the bill.

The proposal moved to the House Rules committee on Thursday.

“To me, it’s just another example of some of the legislation this session that the supermajority is pushing that is sometimes vindictive and not in the best interests of the people of West Virginia,” Hansen said.

In the 2020 election, Trump won every county in West Virginia but had the narrowest margin in Monongalia County where he received 49.4% of the vote compared to 48.2% of the vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Over the years, West Virginia lawmakers have named hundreds of roads after notable public figures, athletes, veterans and politicians.

Former President Barack Obama has over a dozen different roadways named after him. None are in West Virginia.

Earlier this year, a Florida lawmaker introduced similar legislation to rename a highway after former President Trump.