INWOOD, W.Va. — Former West Virginia Rep. Mick Staton, who served a two-year term in Congress in the early 1980s, died Monday night. He was 74.
Officials with the West Virginia Republican Party said Staton had been in declining health recently. He was admitted to a hospital in Winchester, Va., last Thursday.
Staton served one term in the U.S. House from West Virginia’s former 3rd Congressional District. He defeated Democratic incumbent John Hutchinson in the 1980 race but was defeated two years later by Democrat state senator Bob Wise, who held the seat until he was elected governor in 2000.
Staton was born in Parkersburg and graduated from Parkersburg High School. He studied at Concord College and then served in the Army National Guard. Staton later worked for Kanawha Valley Bank where he rose to the position of vice president.
His political career included serving as a delegate at the 1980 Republican National Convention.
He lost his bid for Congress in 1978 against incumbent Rep. John Slack, and when Slack died in office in 1980, Staton lost a June special election to Hutchinson for the remainder of the term.
Five months later, Staton won a rematch against Hutchinson in the regularly scheduled November election.
Staton lived in Inwood in recent years. He worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for several years as the organization’s chief political advisor.