A judge has ruled a candidate in a competitive GOP Senate race is ineligible because she just recently moved back to West Virginia after many years out of state.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom issued the ruling this afternoon, declaring that political newcomer Andrea Kiessling, a 35-year-old living in Spencer, is ineligible.
The judge based that on a state constitutional requirement that political candidates be residents of the state five years prior to running for office. Until the last couple of years, Kiessling voted, paid her taxes and was licensed to drive in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Bloom ordered the Secretary of State to withdraw Kiessling’s certificate of candidacy and for votes for Kiessling not to be counted. Clerks in the district are supposed to post signage in polling place doors stating that Kiessling isn’t eligible.
The Secretary of State’s Office intends to adhere to the ruling and will call an emergency meeting of the State Elections Commission to comply, said Mike Queen, spokesman for the office.
After Bloom’s ruling was filed, the lawyer for Kiessling asked for a stay and the judge denied it. The next possibility is going to the state Supreme Court.
“The Court finds that Respondent has demonstrated little likelihood of success on appeal,” Bloom wrote. “Further, the Court finds that third parties will be greatly prejudiced by issuance of a stay, as early voting has already begun and Respondent Kiessling would remain on the ballot despite being found to be ineligible.”
Kiessling posted a video to say she doesn’t believe the challenge is over.
“This is too important. I have worked too hard, and too may people have helped and supported me to back down now. Of course, I am disappointed by the ruling from today,” she said. “Our next step is an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. Many people have already voted in West Virginia, and their voices deserve to be heard.”
Touching on the residency issue, she added, “I am a proud West Virginian. And I returned to West Virginia to raise my children, to help start a Christian school, to bring jobs to West Virginia, to preserve West Virginia values and most importantly to serve the state I love. And I intend to do just that.”
Early voting is ongoing in West Virginia, and primary elections are next Tuesday, May 10. So Kiessling is already on ballots for a competitive Republican primary in Senate District 8. Finance reports show the campaign for the 35-year-old political newcomer has spent more than $31,000 on the race so far.
The district covers includes Roane and Clay counties and parts of Kanawha, Putnam and Jackson. A resident of that part of Kanawha County, Alicia Stine, is the petitioner in a case filed late last week.
Stine, represented by Charleston attorney Anthony Majestro, contended in a 32-page petition that Kiessling has actually been a North Carolina resident well past the requirements established by West Virginia’s constitution.
Other Republican candidates in the race are former Delegate Joshua Higginbotham of Cross Lanes; Mark Hunt, a former Democratic delegate from Charleston; and Mark Mitchem from Clay.
The residency issues were raised initially last week by Higginbotham. After the judge’s ruling he wrote on social media, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice” and then retweeted himself for good measure.
Kiessling had received support from Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, who recently called Higginbotham’s claim “a disinformation campaign” and political consultant Greg Thomas, who had called Higginbotham a liar motivated by his own odds in the race.
Tarr reacted to the judge’s order today by suggesting the situation, the order and the motivations of others involved are purely political.
The state constitutional standard that Kiessling, a candidate in a competitive Republican primary, has to meet is being a citizen in West Virginia for five years and one year in the district she seeks to represent prior to being elected.
The five-year standard would begin for Kiessling in 2017. The one-year standard for the district would have started last year.
Kiessling testified in the case Tuesday before Judge Bloom.
Kiessling testified that she purchased a home and farm in Roane County in November, 2021.
She testified that she bought and titled vehicles in West Virginia in 2019.
She got a West Virginia drivers license in August 2021. Her drivers license reflected North Carolina residency from 2012 to 2021.
She filed West Virginia income tax returns the past two years and filed in North Carolina the years prior to that.
The petitioner seeking to have Kiessling removed from the ballot, represented by attorney Anthony Majestro, submitted a proposed order pointing to that timeline. That document took note of an earlier case when Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson was ruled ineligible in a House of Delegates race, even though early voting had begun.
Kiessling’s attorney, Marc Williams of Huntington, argued in a separate written filing that those who have voted in the district already would be disenfranchised by a decision to declare the candidate ineligible right now.
“In other words, voters may already have cast ballots for Mrs. Kiessling,” Williams wrote. “Their preferences — and votes — deserve the weight and dignity that allows our democratic process to endure. Those votes should not be annulled based upon cursory Google searches and surreptitious gamesmanship.”
The filing for Kiessling suggested an alternative moment to consider her eligibility, after the election.
“The better approach would be to let the election play out, giving the electorate the opportunity to moot this dispute. Should Mrs. Kiessling secure the nomination, there are procedures in place for a post-election challenge to the results of the primary election,” Williams wrote.
The Secretary of State’s Office, another party in the case, took no position on Kiessling’s eligibility but contended that making that decision now would throw a wrench into the election process for voters in the district.
“It’s simply too late to reprint ballots and reprogram all affected voting machines,” wrote David Pogue, outside counsel for the Secretary of State’s Office.
“The only practical solution given the timeframe would be an order directing county election officials to disregard and refrain from tallying any votes cast for Kiessling, and perhaps further directing the affected county clerks to post a sign at all affected polling places stating that Kiessling is ineligible.”
In the end, the judge’s order went with those steps to try to let voters know about the complicated situation.