Craig Blair, a longtime Republican legislator with a reputation for fiery floor speeches, says he’ll be the next leader of the state Senate.
Blair, appearing on MetroNews’ “Talkline” this morning, said he has the support of the GOP caucus to become the next Senate president. Republicans go into the next legislative session with a 23-11 majority over Democrats in the Senate.
“I can tell you I have unanimous support of our caucus to be the next Senate president. It’s an honor and a privilege,” Blair said today.
Blair said the majority leader will continue to be Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha. He said Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, will take over as Finance Committee chairman. Charles Trump will remain Judiciary chairman and Patricia Rucker will remain Education chairwoman, Blair said, describing very few changes among leadership positions. Formal vote of caucus will be in December, he said.
Blair said his top policy goal is expansion of broadband in West Virginia.
“That is going to be a laserbeam focus on the one issue, I think we can all agree on,” Blair said.
.@ElectCraigBlair joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss getting the support from his colleagues for the Senate Presidency. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/vzpG0iXqL4
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) November 13, 2020
The president’s position opened after the Primary Election defeat of Mitch Carmichael, a Republican from Jackson County who served in the role since 2017. In West Virginia, the Senate president is also the lieutenant governor and is next in line of succession if the governor would become incapacitated or leave office early.
Blair, a Berkeley County resident and small business owner, was first elected to the House of Delegates from 2002 to 2010. He first ran for Senate in 2010 against Democrat John Unger but lost. He then won the other Senate seat in the district in 2012. Blair has been the Finance Committee chairman since 2018.
Blair has sometimes led Senate floor sessions for brief periods, including a time the Senate formed a “Committee of the Whole” to move an omnibus education bill two sessions ago.
Blair was publicly at odds with Gov. Jim Justice in spring 2019, saying at the time he couldn’t support Justice’s re-election for governor. That break occurred after Justice criticized the Senate majority’s priority to open up West Virginia to charter schools.
But since then, Blair and Justice appeared to have mended fences, with the Finance chairman saying the governor has been open to ideas about handling the economic aspects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Blair was in a serious car wreck in Charleston last year just before the session began, requiring surgery. That made him step back from leading the Finance Committee for a few weeks, but he continued showing up at the Capitol, obviously pained and fatigued.
Early last year, when the Senate majority was publicly presenting its legislative goals, Blair showed up slightly late, whizzing by his fellow senators on a scooter and then bumped it up against a marble column.
“It never goes unnoticed that Senator Craig Blair … just had another wreck. Welcome back!” Carmichael said in the moment, before rattling off more legislative goals. Blair stood up and watched the rest of the policy remarks.
Blair is well-known for impassioned speeches on the Senate floor, often reaching a shout when he is particularly fired up.
“Temperamental,” Blair said today, summing it up in one word.
But as Finance chairman he also made much of his willingness to listen and consider a variety of ideas. “A good chairman will facilitate the will of the members,” Blair said.
The president’s role is to keep Senate floor sessions running smoothly, allowing for pertinent debate. The president only takes part in those debates by turning over the gavel to someone else and coming down to a desk on the Senate floor.
“I seriously doubt you’ll see me come out of the chair at all,” Blair said.
Behind the scenes, Blair chats and jokes with legislative colleagues of both parties.
Blair also brings a blue collar background to his legislative perspective. He is a certified water specialist and a master electrician and the owner of Sunset Water Services.
The coming legislative session, which begins a month later than normal because of the governor’s inauguration, will be very different from normal because of social distancing requirements from the coronavirus pandemic.