House Speaker Calls For Special Session To Replace Delegate Charged With Child Sex Abuse

Friday morning Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, formally requested that Gov. Patrick Morrisey call a special session of the House of Delegates for the express purpose of expelling David Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette.  

Wednesday Pritt was arrested and charged with “enticing a minor” via criminal complaint in the Southern District of West Virginia. Pritt, a teacher at Oak Hill High School, was suspended without pay by Fayette County Schools and had his state teaching certification suspended by the West Virginia Department of Education Thursday. 

The letter, signed by 82 Republican delegates, more than meets the three-fifths membership of the House required to request the governor convene the body. Hanshaw called for the session to be held Aug. 10, which aligns with the legislature’s next interim session scheduled for Aug. 9-Aug. 11. 

Politicians on both sides of the aisle were quick to condemn Pritt, with many calling on him to resign. Hanshaw formally called on Pritt to resign hours after his charges were made public, calling the allegations against him “shocking, disgusting and disappointing in every way.”   

In an affidavit, the investigating officer alleged that Pritt initiated contact with a student via online platforms like Roblox and Snapchat when the student was in eighth grade. Pritt is accused of soliciting and sharing explicit images with the underaged student, before sexually assaulting her in his classroom on at least five separate occasions. 

Replacement and Election Implications 

The letter only addresses Pritt’s expulsion from the House and does not mention his replacement. Passed in 2018, House Bill 3004 requires that lawmakers removed from office be succeeded by someone from their party. The governor has up to 20 days from removal to choose from a list of candidates provided by the party executive committee of the delegate’s district. 

Pritt won the Republican candidacy for House District 50 unopposed during the May 12 primary election. Mathew Anderson is the Democratic Party’s nominee for the seat. 

Replacing Pritt on the general election ballot is complicated by House Bill 4350. Passed in 2024, it stipulates that Pritt has until Aug. 11 – 84 days before the general election – to formally withdraw. However, political parties are not allowed to fill vacancies in nomination “caused by the failure of a candidate to file for an office or by withdrawal of a candidate.”  

A written request can be made to disqualify a candidate by Aug. 11 to the State Election Commission “explaining grounds why a candidate is not eligible to be placed on the general election ballot or not eligible to hold the office, if elected.” However the deadline for the candidacy to be vacated is also Aug. 11, or 84 days before the election. 

If the disqualification is submitted and approved before that deadline, then the Republican party would have six days, until Aug. 17 or 78 days before the general election, to have a replacement candidate certified.   

The deadline for write-in candidates is Sept. 15.