General Election Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Candidate Filing Law Sets New Limits On Nominee Appointments

Among the bills passed in the regular state legislative session dealing with voters and elections, and one that faced partisan scrutiny, eliminates a candidate’s filing deadline.

Signed by Gov. Jim Justice on March 27, the last day to do so, House Bill 4350 says if no one files as a party candidate for an elected office after the filing deadline, that vacancy may not be filled. Previously, the party executive committee had 17 days after that deadline to appoint a nominee. The change eliminates that practice except in certain circumstances, including no one filing to run for the position at all, death, disqualification or resignation of a candidate.

The bill sponsor, Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone, said the change gives voters security in knowing who is running for office. And, he said it allows that someone hasn’t been tossed on the ballot just for political purposes.

“A function of a party is to recruit candidates, number one, and number two, to win elections,” Holstein said. “If we can’t find an individual for two years leading up to an election, and the three to four week filing period, to get them found, we have to scramble. At the end of that, to find somebody just to toss on, it’s usually not a very high quality person or a high quality candidate, it’s just someone that’s filling a ballot.”

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, and West Virginia Democratic Party chairman, said the legislation hurts voters and only benefits incumbents.

“The only thing that does is make less alternatives, less choices for voters,”Pushkin said. “Democracy works better when we have more choices for voters, when we have more people participating in their democracy. It doesn’t benefit anybody except people already serving in this building.”

West Virginia University Associate Professor of Political Science Scott Critchlow noted that many West Virginia election districts have small populations. He said each of the 100 House of Delegates districts have less than 20,000 people, and that can create a challenge for political parties to find candidates.

“What the practice has been so far is to allow for the people to register after the filing deadline, in case you didn’t get somebody in one of those very, very small, 100 districts,” Critchlow said. “This will stop that practice. And effectively, that’s going to mean that voters don’t have a choice when they go to the polls in November.”

Critchlow also said that House Bill 4350 was voted on by politicians, and noted that many of them could see it as in their own best interest to have fewer possible people run against them as they seek reelection.

“The filing deadline in West Virginia is in January,” Critchlow said. “So just take the last few months as an example. Somebody might know in January that they’re not going to face a person running against them in November. That means that for the entire legislative session from January to March, they can vote however they want to without having to worry about the voters.“

In response, Holstein said he rejects Critchlow’s entire premise, saying the legislation does not impact an incumbent and it preserves election integrity.

“What folks need to know is this preserves the situations where neither major party files a candidate,” Holstein said. “It still allows them to go out for that additional two weeks and seek somebody, so that’s still intact. All this does, it preserves death, it preserves withdrawal, it preserves eligibility, it preserves if no one has filed. All this does is say, if you have not filed during this entire period, and you’ve had two years from the last election cycle to prepare, you’re no longer eligible to be a candidate.”

House Bill 4350 takes effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Constitutional Protection From Euthanasia Could Appear On Ballots This Fall

Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates have backed a resolution allowing residents to vote to add protection from euthanasia to the state constitution during this fall’s general election.

Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates are calling on their colleagues in the West Virginia Senate to place constitutional protections from euthanasia on voters’ ballots this fall.

Euthanasia, or medically assisted suicide, is already illegal in the state.

With both chambers’ support, House Joint Resolution 28 would allow residents to vote on adding protections against euthanasia to the state constitution during this fall’s general election.

But lawmakers held conflicting views on the measure at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Monday.

Resolution sponsor Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, was invited to speak to senators in committee, stating that the state’s stance against euthanasia is important.

“There’s this phenomenon of nihilism that’s sort of spreading across the country, and I think it’s an important issue we need to address,” McGeehan said. “To the best of my knowledge, we’ll be the first to place this and take a stand in the state constitution.”

While euthanasia prevention received some bipartisan support, pushback on aspects of the bill fell along party lines.

Republican lawmakers wanted to add language to the amendment so it could not affect capital punishment policies.

But Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, said that contradicts the purported pro-life nature of the resolution.

Woelfel said he supported the resolution generally, but that protecting capital punishment gave him pause. Other lawmakers expressed concern over outright condemning euthanasia.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said he became more sympathetic to legalizing euthanasia after watching his father-in-law suffer through hospice care at the end of his life.

“We was praying for him to die, that’s how much he was suffering. We was literally praying for him to die,” Caputo said. “I know that, if he could have made this decision to end it earlier, he would have done that.”

Caputo also expressed concern that the resolution would hold legal implications for medical professionals, but McGeehan said the measure would not hold legal weight beyond what is already in place in state law.

Ultimately, members of the committee voted in favor of the resolution, sending it to the Senate floor with the recommendation that it pass.

If members of the Senate approve the resolution, West Virginia voters will be able to vote on constitutional protections from euthanasia in the state general election this November.

House Bills Aim To Bolster Hunting, Fishing Access For West Virginians

Two bills under consideration in the West Virginia House of Delegates aim to reinforce hunting and fishing access within the state. They passed a House committee with majority support, and will each be referred to a second committee for further deliberation.

On Wednesday, the West Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources voiced support for two pieces of proposed legislation that would reinforce hunting and fishing rights in the state.

House Bill 4280 would grant disabled West Virginia veterans free lifetime hunting, trapping and fishing licenses through a tax credit.

Brett McMillion, director of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, testified during Wednesday’s committee meeting, and said passage of the bill would not necessarily increase the cost of hunting and fishing licenses for other West Virginians.

Still, MacMillian said it would be important for lawmakers to help the DNR access new sources of funding to offset costs incurred by the bill.

“We support our veterans one hundred percent,” he said. But “any time we have a reduction in our special revenue… it certainly does have an impact.”

Additionally, House Joint Resolution 8 would pose a new item on West Virginia ballots in the coming general election.

Under the resolution, citizens could vote to codify “the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife” in state law. The resolution stipulates that citizens must still adhere to laws on wildlife conservation and private property.

The resolution also describes hunting and fishing as a “preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.”

Lawmakers on the committee emphasized it would be important that the resolution does not interfere with the operations of agencies like the DNR. They unanimously voted that it be referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary for discussion on the judicial implications of such a bill.

GOP Maintains Majorities In W.Va. House, Senate

Republicans maintained their majorities in the West Virginia Senate and House of Delegates on Tuesday night.

The GOP flipped at least one seat in the Senate. Laura Wakim Chapman, an attorney from Wheeling, won the First District Senate seat over Democrat and former Delegate Randy Swartzmiller, who had defeated incumbent Owens Brown in the May primary.

The GOP won all eight Senate races that had been called by The Associated Press, giving Republicans at least 22 of the 34 Senate seats. Half of the chamber was not up for reelection.

Democrats had needed to win seven seats currently occupied by the GOP in the Senate and 29 seats in the House of Delegates to retake control. Entering the general election, Republicans held advantages of 23-11 in the state Senate and 78-22 in the House.

One-fourth of the races on the ballot had no Democratic candidates. Democrats’ chances of cutting into the GOP’s stronghold also were minimized by being outnumbered by Republican voters in 35 of the state’s 55 counties.

Democrats had hoped to seize on the abortion issue to turn things around, urging voters to go to the polls after the Republican governor signed a sweeping abortion ban with few exceptions in September.

Democrats long ruled the state on the strength of their strong union presence and a clear identity as the party of working people, holding supermajorities in both chambers as recently as 2008. But in the 2014 general election, voters in the coal-dependent state steered their disgust toward Democratic President Barack Obama’s efforts to cut carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. Obama was so unpopular in West Virginia that a federal inmate in Texas received 41% of the vote in the state’s 2012 Democratic presidential primary.

Republicans took control of both legislative chambers after the 2014 election.

W.Va. Voters Reject GOP Proposals On School, Tax Control

Voters in West Virginia rejected four proposed amendments to the state constitution Tuesday, including two that would have given the Republican-dominated legislature more power to regulate public education policy and certain taxes.

Updated on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 at 9 a.m.

Other failed amendments would have prohibited the state Supreme Court intervention in the Legislature’s impeachment trials and allowed churches to incorporate.

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee praised the outcome on the education and tax amendments, saying West Virginia voters “clearly saw through the power grab from the legislature” to “continue their assault on public education and education employees.”

“Local control is one of the cornerstones of our county government and local school system,” said Lee, head of the state’s largest public educators’ union. “Rejecting the proposed amendments will allow that local control to continue.”

Amendment 4 on Tuesday’s ballot would have required the state Board of Education to submit new rules and regulations to the legislature annually for final approval. Currently, it’s the only government agency that’s exempt.

The vote came amid a fight raging nationally over the politicization of schools. West Virginia’s Republican leaders have joined politicians elsewhere in pushing to regulate how subjects such as race are taught in classrooms and funnel public money into alternative education options, including charter schools and voucher programs.

Just this year, the state Board of Education joined a lawsuit against top Republicans over a school choice program — one of the nation’s most expansive — alleging it unconstitutionally drains money from public schools. The case went to the state Supreme Court, which sided with lawmakers.

GOP lawmakers who supported the amendment said people making decisions about things like curriculum, student discipline and teacher training should be accountable to voters. West Virginia’s governor-appointed and Senate-confirmed state school board members serve nine-year terms — the longest in any U.S. state — and can’t easily be removed.

But the change was opposed by teachers’ unions and other top education officials who said lawmakers want power over education to further their political agendas. Education officials also maintain that lawmakers have no business taking over public schools when they’ve consistently failed to help them.

Four years after more than 30,000 school workers went on strike in one of the nation’s poorest states, igniting teacher walkouts nationwide, many said they’re overworked and exhausted.

Additionally, Republican Gov. Jim Justice and GOP state legislative leaders clashed over Amendment 2, which would have given state lawmakers the ability to eliminate a business and inventory tax along with the personal property vehicle tax.

Justice, who wants to cut — and eventually eliminate — the state income tax instead, toured the state to urge voters to reject the proposal. He said the passage of the amendment could harm schools, cities and counties and give companies large tax breaks.

Top lawmakers asserted that the amendment would attract economic and business development to the state.

Speaking in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday after votes were counted, Justice said if Amendment 2 had passed, it “could have been really bad.”

“We would have been upside down … The police, the firemen, your schools, the seniors, the sports leagues, on and on and on and on,” he said.

He said his priority for the upcoming legislative session will be to find a pathway to cut the personal income tax as well as the car tax.

“Who won tonight was absolutely hands down the people — the people won,” he said. “And who lost? Who lost unequivocally? Selfishness lost.”

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Follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

GOP Reps Miller, Mooney Soar To Reelection In W.Va.

Two sitting Republican U.S. representatives in West Virginia have easily overcome challengers to keep their seats in the deep red state’s shrinking congressional delegation.

Updated on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 at 9 a.m.

Two sitting Republican U.S. representatives in West Virginia have easily overcome challengers to keep their seats in the deep red state’s shrinking congressional delegation.

U.S. Reps. Alex Mooney and Carol Miller defeated lesser-known Democratic and Independent candidates on Tuesday in a state controlled by Republicans at every level of state government. West Virginia hasn’t elected a Democrat to the House since 2012, and was one of only two states where former President Donald Trump won every county in 2016 and in 2020.

Miller said Tuesday she looks forward to working to bring “more investment, opportunity, and prosperity” to West Virginia.

“God bless West Virginia and God bless the United States of America!” she said in a statement on Facebook.

Mooney released a statement on Twitter thanking voters for their confidence in him, saying “there is much work to be done to get our country back on track.”

“I look forward to working with the new Republican majorities in Congress to stop the partisan witch hunts and instead fight for constitutional freedoms,” Mooney wrote.

The congressman said top priorities of his next term will be securing the border and fighting inflation.

In a closely watched May primary race, Trump-endorsed Mooney beat veteran lawmaker Republican Rep. David McKinley to become the GOP nominee for the 2nd Congressional District. The incumbents were pitted against each other after population losses cost West Virginia a U.S. House seat. McKinley faced criticism for breaking with his party to support President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Miller, another Trump ally, easily breezed to the Republican nomination in West Virginia’s 1st District in May, defeating four little-known candidates. Miller has represented West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District — which was eliminated in redistricting — since 2018.

In Tuesday’s race, Mooney faced former Morgantown city councilor Democrat Barry Wendell. The two candidates are both Maryland transplants — but that’s where the similarities ended.

Wendell is an openly gay Jewish man who supports access to abortion and investing in clean energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

Mooney, who has represented West Virginia in Congress since 2015, is a member of the most conservative voting bloc in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is adamantly opposed to abortion and policies that would hamper West Virginia’s coal industry. He has said he believes marriage is between “a man and a woman.”

Miller faced challenges from Democrat Lacy Watson and Independent Belinda Fox-Spencer. Watson is a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech. Fox-Spencer, who filed to run after the primary, is a small business owner. She worked in health care for 20 years as a diagnostic medical sonographer, specializing in women’s health.

Follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections