West Virginia Republican Party Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Political Party Leaders Assess Imbalance Of Power, Future Goals

As lawmakers prepare for the upcoming 2023 general session, they do so with a near historic imbalance of political party power.

The leaders of both state political parties went into detail on what brought them to this point, and their expectations for the future.

West Virginia Republican Party Chair Elgine McArdle said party dominance in both the general election and the state legislature – 88 to 12 in the House, 31 to 3 in the Senate – means the impact of this “supermajority’s” constituents will be clearly heard.

“I would hope that the conservative principles that have echoed through the state of West Virginia would continue to be put into law,” McArdle said. “I guess it’s just in conservative values on fiscal responsibility to carry through.”

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, is the West Virginia Democratic Party Chair. He said Democrats have a lot of work before them to organize from the ground up. He attributed the election losses in part to branding, blaming concerns about inflation and economy on the national Democratic Party. He also said it was no coincidence the historic defeats came directly after redistricting.

“The maps were definitely drawn to favor the party in power, the Republicans. In certain districts that made it very difficult for us to win,” Pushkin said. “We found that our candidates, if you look at their numbers versus the modeling that we had, really did quite well and overperformed. But it just wasn’t enough to overcome the gerrymandering that was done by the Republican Party.”

McArdle said the fact that so many candidates won, but every amendment Republicans supported lost was not a matter of voter disconnect. She blamed the defeats on a lack of voter education and research.

“Individuals have to do their own research and look at why a particular amendment is being pushed. And not so much listen to media or rhetoric that is being promoted by an individual or individual groups,” McArdle said.

“There were a lot of people who didn’t test the vote at all, one way or the other, for or against the amendments, because they just simply didn’t know what they were about.”

Pushkin said suggesting a lack of voter education and research in the amendment losses was an insult to voters.

“They voted no, because they saw it as a power grab from the state legislature, power grabbing by the Republican Party,” Pushkin said. “I think people still believe in checks and balances, people still believe in separation of power, something our country was founded on.”

McArdle charged her party’s elected representatives with committing to their campaign rhetoric as responsibility.

“They should all remember the promises that they made during the election and keep those promises to the constituents that put them there,” McArdel said.

Pushkin said the democratic hope is to work with representatives in a bipartisan manner on populist policy, not politics.

“The state has a whole lot of serious problems, whether it’s 7,000 children in foster care, our high rate of infant mortality, a whole host of poor public health outcomes, improvement of our public schools, access to health care,” Pushkin said. “I would hope that’s where we placed the focus and not on whatever kind of hot button political issue that they’re going to use to gin up the base.”

The 2023 general legislative session begins January 11th, and runs for 60 days.

Hanshaw Retains House Speaker Position In Caucus Vote

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, retained his position after the Republican House caucus on Sunday.

The vote was 53-30 with Hanshaw winning over challenger Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh. Five Republican delegates were absent. Steele announced his challenge back in August, campaigning on a more conservative platform.

Hanshaw begins his third two-year term as Speaker. He was first elected in August 2018 when then-Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, left the House for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Hanshaw defeated then-Del. Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, twice to maintain the position.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, was confirmed for his second term as Senate President by acclimation of the Senate.

The caucus vote is non-binding, with delegates casting their official votes on Jan. 11, the first day of the 2023 general legislative session.

Legislative Leadership Up For Votes During Sunday Caucuses

Nominations for some legislative leadership roles at this Sunday’s caucuses may be contentious.

On Sunday, House of Delegates and Senate Republican and Democratic caucuses will meet to nominate party leaders.

On the Senate side, with Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, withdrawing from challenging Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, he faces no apparent opposition.

On the House side, Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, is challenged by Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh. Steele has said progress is stalled and he has a leadership team he wants to put in place should he win.

Hanshaw’s Chief of Staff, Ann Ali, said the Speaker hopes to retain his leadership position.

As required by state code, current West Virginia Republican Party Chair Elgine McArdle will initially preside over the gathering, all done behind closed doors.

Former state Republican Party Chair Conrad Lucas said he can’t remember a time a sitting Speaker was voted out of his position in a caucus.

“If it’s happened, it certainly hasn’t happened in recent memory at all,” Lucas said. “Certainly not since the Republicans have been in charge since the 2014 election.”

Lucas said Hanshaw was challenged for the speakership in his previous two year cycles , both times by former delegate and current Sen. Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha.

House Clerk Steve Harrison says Sunday’s caucus votes are basically a “gentleman’s agreement” and not binding.

“The official action doesn’t happen until the first day of session,” Harrison said. “Nominations are open and can be made at that time. Normally, the Republicans nominate one person, the Democrats nominate another person, and then the vote occurs.”

The first day of the 2023 general legislative session is Jan. 11.

Republicans Increase Their Supermajority In W.Va. Senate

Sen. Glenn Jeffries, formerly D-Putnam, has announced that he has filed to switch his party affiliation. Jeffries, now R-Putnam, will join the Republican caucus in the state Senate.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Story updated at 12:14 p.m.

Sen. Glenn Jeffries, formerly D-Putnam, has announced that he has filed to switch his party affiliation. Jeffries, now R-Putnam, will join the Republican caucus in the state Senate.

The switch now has Republicans occupying 31 of the 34 Senate seats.

Jeffries said he thinks he can get more accomplished as a republican.

“I believe with some of the momentum that I’ve got going with economic development, stuff that I’ve been involved with, I believe that making this move will help me be more effective,” Jeffries said. “The majority party ends up making decisions that I want to be involved with, and want to make sure that they’re going in the right direction.”

In 2021, Jeffries wrote a letter to Berkshire Hathaway (BH) Chairman Warren Buffett inviting him to visit West Virginia. During the past year, Jeffries has hosted BH executives in West Virginia dozens of times. His persistence helped lead the company to bring two BH subsidiaries, Precision Castparts Corporation (PCC) and BHE Renewables, into Jackson County, where they will build a state-of-the art titanium melt facility that manufactures products for the aerospace and other industries on the site of the old Century Aluminum Plant.

Jeffries said that when he first ran for election in 2016, he pledged to work in a bipartisan way to find solutions for the biggest problems in West Virginia. He said he plans to continue those efforts.

“I am not a politician. If a Republican constituent or a Democrat constituent calls me, if an independent or mountain party person calls me, I’m there for them,” Jeffries said. “You can probably ask any of them that spoke with, I never asked what party they’re affiliated with, I’m there to help.”

In a press release, Tony Hodge, chairman of the Putnam County Republican Party and co-chair of the West Virginia Republican Party said he recently met with Jeffries to discuss his party switch.

“Glenn described himself to me as a ‘conservative,’” Hodge said. “We agreed his policy efforts in the state Senate would be elevated if he joined the majority Republican caucus.”

The only Putnam County seat that was not held by a Republican was the 8th Senatorial District seat occupied by Jeffries, who is not up for re-election until 2024.

What's Next For Republicans And Democrats In The Legislature?

Republicans bolstered their supermajority on election night but Democrats say they will continue to work for policies that help people.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Morgan, said he’s buoyed by a 30 to 4 Republican supermajority (what he now calls a super-super majority) in the senate, but he also said that comes with a caveat.

“We’re really good at getting our candidates across the finish line,” Blair said. “But we got some learning to do on how to get amendments done.”

All four proposed amendments to the state constitution failed Tuesday night. Blair said, following the failure of Amendment 2 which would have given the legislature the ability to change or delete property taxes, the legislature needs to continue promoting a drug-free, educated workforce and do a better job educating voters on state revenues. But he said it will be tough to bury the political hatchet with Gov. Jim Justice who opposed Amendment 2.

“I find it off-putting that we’ve been called ‘the swamp’ and we’ve basically been called ‘mired in debt,’” Blair said. “We were called corrupt and that’s not true.”

Re-elected, Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said, as state Democratic party chair, he’ll continue a non-partisan push for policies to help West Virginians.

He did see an election night bright spot in voters defeating all four amendments.

“They still have a very healthy mistrust of Republican policy,” Pushkin said. “They did not want the Republican legislature in control of county budgets. They didn’t want the Republican legislature in control of our public education.”

Pushkin says any compromise in tax reform moving forward needs to be citizen-centric.

“It must be about giving tax relief to the people who really really need it,” Pushkin said. “Not just to the wealthiest West Virginians or to out of state corporations.”

Election results become official when certified by county clerks next week.

W.Va. Primary: Incumbent Face-Offs, Redistricting And Party Switching

Redistricting in West Virginia has led to some House and Senate incumbents running against each other on May 10th.

Incumbent Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, and Ric Griffith, D-Wayne, are colleagues and friends. Lovejoy, a third term delegate and Cabell County attorney, said this race is a bit troubling.

“It’s a bummer,” Lovejoy said. “The truth is, Rick’s a good friend of mine. He’s a good Democrat. He’s a good delegate. And it’s just unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

Griffith, who owns a Wayne County pharmacy, is completing his first term in the House. He said running against Lovejoy is disheartening.

“I care deeply about serving as does Chad,” Griffith said. “And so we’re just gonna have to face this and see what happens. But it’s an unfortunate circumstance.”

Both candidates were asked to explain some key issues they think need the West Virginia Legislature’s immediate attention. They said economic development with job creation and retention topped their lists.

Lovejoy expressed the importance of stewardship with all the federal funds becoming available.

“The federal monies from the infrastructure bill, the American rescue plan, there’s going to be a lot of decisions made as we go forward on how this money is going to be used in West Virginia,” Lovejoy said. “And a lot of that is going to be appropriated by the legislature. So I want to make sure that our area has a seat at the table.”

Griffith said tourism is driving much of the state’s economic development, but he said you can’t promote West Virginia without cleaning it up. He has a plan to clear littered, unsightly homes by offering incentives first, penalties second.

“I think we ought to have a fund that creates an ability to go to a poor person or just a negligent person’s home and say, okay, we will fine you,” Griffith said. “But you gotta clean this up. We’ll help you haul it off and if not, you will be fined.”

The entire 100 member House of Delegates is up for election. More than half the incumbents have no opposition in the May primary.

Half of the 34-member Senate is up for election. Republicans hold a 23-11 supermajority in that chamber. Several of the districts were realigned during redistricting, but the total number stayed the same.

A number of Senate primary races feature incumbent vs. incumbent, candidates switching political parties, candidates moving from house to senate and a former U.S attorney running for state senate.

They include:

District 1: Sen. Owens Brown, D-Ohio, and former Del. Randy Swartzmiller

District 3: Sen Mike Azinger, R-Wood and Del. John Kelly, R-Wood

District 7: Former U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart is running against Chad McCormick in the republican Primary.

District 9: Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, and current Del. and former Democrat Mick Bates, R-Raleigh;

District 13: Former Senate Democrat Mike Oliverio plans to seek office again, this time as a Republican and fellow Morgantown resident Barbara Evans Fleischauer, a longtime House Democrat. Both have primary opposition.

WVPB and the Secretary of State’s office have more information on the West Virginia Primary and casting your vote.