CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There will be a different flavor at the state capitol Monday when state lawmakers report for interim committee meetings.
It will mark the first time lawmakers have met since the historic Nov. 4 General Election and the days following when Republicans gained control of the House of Delegates and state Senate for the first time since the early 1930s.
The official party caucuses won’t take place until next month but there will likely be a lot of unofficial jockeying going on for office space, parking spaces and committee assignments. Kanawha County Del. Tim Armstead will likely be the next House speaker while Sen. Bill Cole, (R-Mercer), appears poised to take over the Senate.
Aside from the politics, there will 44 separate interim committee meetings over the three-day period covering a variety of topics, but it will be the election results and pending changes that will get the most discussion.
Seventeen members of the House of Delegates were defeated as the House swung from a 53-47 advantage by the Democrats to 64-36 in favor of the Republicans. Seven sitting senators lost on Election Day moving the Senate to a 17-17 tie but the day after the election Sen. Daniel Hall of Wyoming County changed his party registration from Democrat to Republican giving the Republicans control of the Senate.
The caucuses are scheduled for next month when new leaders will be chosen but nothing will be official until House and Senate elections are held on the opening day of the 60-day legislative session, Jan. 14, 2015.