Tag: Democratic governor

January 18, 1937: Homer Holt Becomes W.Va.'s 20th Governor

On January 18, 1937, Democrat Homer Holt became the state’s 20th governor. Just four years earlier, the Lewisburg native had been swept into statewide office as attorney general in a Democratic wave that ended the Republicans’ long-standing domination of West Virginia politics. He was only 34 at the time.

Becoming attorney general during the darkest days of the Great Depression, he worked with Governor H. Guy Kump to shore up the state’s finances.

He and Kump represented the more conservative “statehouse” faction of the Democratic Party, as opposed to U.S. Senator Matthew Neely, a New Deal liberal who had the backing of labor.

In 1936, Holt won a landslide and succeeded Kump as governor. Holt quickly made enemies of the unions, which cost him politically. In 1940, Neely defeated Holt’s preferred candidate to become the next governor.

After leaving office, Holt practiced law in Charleston before moving to New York to become general counsel and then a vice president and director for Union Carbide. In 1956, he bolted the Democratic Party to support Republican Cecil Underwood for governor. Homer Holt died in Charleston in 1976 at age 77.

November 24, 1893: West Virginia Governor John Jacob Dies at 63

  West Virginia governor John Jacob died in Wheeling on November 24, 1893, at age 63. The Hampshire County native was the first governor born within the borders of what would become West Virginia and, in 1870, became the state’s first Democratic governor.

During Jacob’s first term, Democratic lawmakers rewrote the state constitution, restoring full political rights to West Virginians who had fought for the South during the Civil War. The new constitution also lengthened the gubernatorial term from two years to four and prohibited governors from serving two consecutive terms. This latter change didn’t apply to Jacob.

In 1872, he won re-election, though as an Independent rather than a Democrat. That year, the Democratic Party nominated industrialist Johnson Camden instead of Jacob. Some Democrats, however, joined forces with Republicans, who backed Jacob rather than nominate their own candidate. After a bitter campaign, voters preferred Jacob’s reputation for protecting the state’s interests over Camden’s connections to big business. Jacob’s six full years in office made him the state’s longest-serving governor until Arch Moore served eight years a century later. Jacob is also the only governor elected as an Independent.

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