FLATWOODS, W.Va. — Receiving 48 of 68 executive committee votes, Belinda Biafore was elected state chair of the Democratic Party on Saturday.
“To have the vote and confidence fo the people that I’ve worked with all these years, it meant a lot,” she said.
Biafore has worked officially for Democrats in the state for over 30 years, serving as the party’s vice-chair since 2004, according to a state party release. And as Delegate Mike Caputo (D-Marion) pointed out during his nomination speech, she has been a lifelong Democrat, known for handing out literature on behalf of the party since the third grade.
Biafore replaces Larry Puccio, who stepped down last month to take a chairmanship with Country Roads, the political action committee for U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Richard Lindsay, Chris Regan and Nick Preservati also were nominated and Biafore predicts they’ll be crucial members of the team.
“There’s enough work cut out for the Democrat Party in the next election cycle that we need everybody,” she said. “From the independent view that Chris brings, to the fundraising that Nick brings, to the youth that Richard brings.”
Biafore and Regan proposed becoming co-chairs of the party in an email sent to the executive committee leading up to the meeting in which they wrote “this suggestion has come to us from so many Democrats we’ve heard from that we both thought that now was the right time to place that proposal before you, so that you may consider it in advance of our meeting Saturday.”
The suggestion was taken off the table before the vote as the party’s bylaws do not currently permit co-chairs and the rule change was not officially presented to the committee in the allotted time to allow a vote.
However, Regan was later selected to become the party’s vice-chair.
Congratulations to Chair Belinda Biafore & Vice Chair Chris Regan, let's continue to move WV forward! #wvdems #wvpol pic.twitter.com/8queVVzjAC
— WV Democratic Party (@wvdemocrats) February 7, 2015
The top priority for Biafore and the new leadership is regrouping after the November election in which Republicans gained a majority in both chambers at the statehouse, secured all three Congressional seats and won a U.S. Senate seat for the first time since the 1950s.
Biafore said the plan is to activate the voting base by giving them a reason to come out and vote.
“I think that starts at the bottom with city council races, moving on up to courthouse races and then state races. If can get folks on the ballot and we can give them a reason to go out there and vote, then they’re going to be there for us in ’16.”
With the support of the party, Biafore believes she is ready to take on the task.
“I’m just happy and I’m ready to get working,” she said.