CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s a crowded ballot up and down for the 2024 Primary Election in West Virginia.
Attorney General
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is exiting the office he’s held since 2013 and running for governor. So that opens up the seat for the top lawyer position in state government.
Two Kanawha County residents with long political histories are competing in the Republican primary.
J.B. McCuskey has been been state Auditor since 2016. Before that, he was elected to the House of Delegates in 2012. McCuskey is also the land commissioner, which means his office also deals with all the tax delinquent properties in West Virginia and allegations of local and state fraud.
He said the state is primed for economic growth but that requires taking on “the forces that be in Washington” and regulatory overreach. The attorney general’s office represents state government when it is being sued and also when it files lawsuits.
“If you look around West Virginia, there is an energy as it relates to economic development that we haven’t had in a very long time,” McCuskey said. “We need an attorney general that is willing and able as I am to stand up to these groups of people.”
McCuskey described energy, timbering and farming as driving the state’s economy. He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s policies often curtail the growth of those economic sectors.
“I will sue any bureaucracy that looks down at West Virginia’s economy and says ‘We want to arbitrarily change the way that you make money and the way that your people live,'” he said.
Stuart has been practicing law for over 25 years. Stuart is a former co-chairman of the 2016 Trump for President campaign in West Virginia and a Trump pick for U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. He was also a state Republican party chairman.
He called attorney general’s role the “most important spot on the ballot.”
“It’s the attorney general that fights for freedom for the people of West Virginia,” he said.
A hot-button topic has been West Virginia’s law forbidding transgender girls from participating on girls sports teams. Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a West Virginia middle school athlete who identifies as a girl should be allowed to compete.
Morrisey has said the state would seek a review from the U.S. Supreme Court. Because he will depart the attorney general’s office at the end of the year, the next attorney general could inherit the case.
Stuart says the state can set a precedent for the rest of the country if the case does get taken up by the Supreme Court.
“Frankly, we were on the front end of taking action with respect in protecting young girls and fairness in competition,” said Stuart.
McCuskey’s take: “The idea that it isn’t important enough that the playing field is both fair and safe for girls is preposterous.”
On the other side, lawyers Teresa Toriseva and Richie Robb will face-off in the Democratic Primary for attorney general.
Secretary of State
Kris Warner says he’s trying to build off of what his brother Mac Warner has done as Secretary of State over the past eight years. Mac, who has been Secretary of State since 2017, is vacating the office to run for governor.
The Warner family has a deep history in West Virginia politics. Kris is former chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party.
“I have fought for the Republican conservative values that we all hold here in West Virginia for the last 35 years,” Kris Warner said. He added, “As Secretary of State, I will follow the letter of the law laid out by the West Virginia Legislature.”
Warner also served as chairman of the Monongalia County GOP. He was appointed by former President Trump to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture in West Virginia. Governor Jim Justice appointed him to lead the West Virginia Economic Development Authority.
Warner said business development is as important a priority for the Secretary of State as keeping elections safe and secure. He’s helped create private business and enterprise centers in multiple counties including Monongalia and Barbour.
“I know something about entrepreneurs and what they are looking for out of state government,” said Warner, who has proposed the creation of the Office of Entrepreneurship if he’s elected Secretary of State.
“This office is about much more than just elections, it’s about business registration and I think that’s what sets me apart from the other three candidates,” he added.
One of those other three candidates is former House Minority Leader Doug Skaff.
Skaff spent 11 years as a Democrat in the House of Delegates. He was House minority leader from 2020-2023 before exiting the House and switching to the Republican Party.
Skaff believes in his track record as a business owner applies to his campaign for secretary of state. He runs multiple businesses ranging from three employees to about 200 employees.
“I think it takes a business owner to know how to run the business office of the state,” he said.
Skaff said the most important thing he can do to keep West Virginia elections secure is closely monitor the voting rolls.
“Secure our elections, keep illegals out of our state from working, keep illegals out of our state from voting,” said Skaff.
Another Republican in the race is pharmacist Ken Reed of Hedgesville. Reed was elected to the Morgan County Commission in 2016 before heading to Charleston as the elected delegate from the 59th district in 2020.
Secretary of State candidate Brian Wood has been Putnam County clerk for more than 19 years. He has also served as president of the West Virginia County Clerks Association and spent two terms as magistrate in Putnam County.
Thornton Cooper is the lone Democrat on the ballot for secretary of state. Cooper is a resident of South Charleston and spent between 2006 and 2015 serving on the Kanawha County Democratic Executive Committee. He is currently the acting chairman of the South Charleston Democratic Executive Committee.
Auditor
With two-term Auditor J.B. McCuskey running for Attorney General, four Republican candidates are competing to lead the auditor’s office.
One is state Senator Mark Hunt of Charleston. Hunt was a Democrat who served in the House of Delegates starting in 2004. He switched parties in 2022.
Another Republican candidate is House Majority Leader Eric Householder of Martinsburg. Householder was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2010. Before becoming majority leader, he also was House Finance chairman for four years.
Auditor candidate Caleb Hanna departed the House of Delegates to run for the office. The 24-year-old had served as a delegate in the 44th district since 2018. At 19, he was the youngest African-American ever elected to a state office.
And former Jefferson County Commissioner Tricia Jackson is also running for auditor. She served on the Jefferson County Commission from 2020 before being removed for refusing to attend commission meetings. She and fellow Commissioner Tricia Jackson were ordered to vacate their positions by a three-judge panel on May 1.
The Democrat in the race is Mary Ann Claytor, a St. Albans resident who has run for auditor twice before.
Key Senate Races
17 out of 34 West Virginia Senate seats are up for election in 2024.
District 1 includes Brooke, Hanco*ck, Ohio and part of Marshall counties. Incumbent Senator Ryan Weld, a Republican, is facing a challenge from Scott Adams. Weld was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2014. He has served as a prosecuting and as an officer in the Air Force Reserve.
In the Senate, Weld has been majority whip and vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Senator Charles Trump, R-Morgan, chaired the committee but is now running for state Supreme Court.
Adams is a retired state trooper and Iraq War veteran from Wellsburg. He also served as a captain in the Army.
Three Republican candidates – Scott Fuller, Josh Mathis and Dallas Thacker — are competing for the Senate’s 5th District seat, which covers all of Cabell County and a portion of Wayne. Longtime Senator Bob Plymale, a Democrat, is not seeking reelection to the seat.
Delegate Ric Griffith, a Democrat, is looking to move to the other chamber of the state Capitol building. Griffith spent the previous four years as a delegate representing the 19th District. He’s a pharmacist and runs the popular Pumpkin House attraction.
Robert Karnes, a Republican representing counties across a swath of West Virginia’s central mountain counties, is running to defend his Senate seat. His Republican challenger is Robbie Morris, executive director of the Randolph County Development Authority and West Virginia Wood Technology Center.
Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, has two Republican challengers. They are former Delegate Mike Folk and Tom Willis , a businessman and 23-year veteran in the West Virginia National Guard.
Anthony Murray is the lone Democrat in the race.
Also in the eastern panhandle, Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, is being challenged by Delegate Paul Espinosa. Democrat John Doyle, a former delegate, would face the primary winner.
Senator Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, is being challenged by Delegate Chris Pritt, who has been in the House since 2020. Bil Lepp is running as a Democrat.
Key House Races
All 100 seats in the West Virginia House of Delegates are open.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, of Clay County, is attempting to stay in the House. First elected in 2014, he’s been Speaker since 2018.
Two Republicans in Justin Bordas and Laura McGinnis are also campaigning for Delegate District 62 against Hanshaw.
Delegate Todd Longanacre (R) is not seeking reelection in District 47. Republicans George “Boogie” Ambler, Ray Canterbury and Stephen Snyder are all running for that seat. Kayla McCoy and Roger Vannoy are running as Democratic candidates.
In Delegate District 51, Marshall Clay and Dan Hill are Republican candidates while Robyn Kincaid and Jack Thompson are on the other side of the ballot. Tom Fast (R) held the position since 2022. This year he is seeking to become a Circuit Judge in Fayette County.
Delegate District 57 features Charleston representatives. Hollis Lewis was appointed to the seat in November 2023 to replace former Delegate Doug Skaff who resigned in September and is now a candidate for Secretary of State as a Republican.
Ernest Blevins, Mark Carter and Aaron Neil are running for the seat as Republicans.
