Two justices to the West Virginia Supreme Court were selected before voting even began.
Haley Bunn and Charles Trump were unopposed in their races for the high court.
There were two Supreme Court seats up in West Virginia this cycle – but the two candidates were unopposed. West Virginia’s judicial races are considered nonpartisan, and the races are determined during the primary election cycle.
Bunn is an incumbent who was first appointed to the bench by Gov. Jim Justice in 2022 to fill the unexpired term of Evan Jenkins, who resigned before the 12-year term was up. Jenkins was actually serving a term originally won in 2012 by Robin Davis, who resigned following impeachment in 2018. Justice appointed Jenkins temporarily to fill her term, and then Jenkins won a special election later in 2018.
In short, Bunn is the current incumbent and is the only candidate running for the next 12-year term for that seat.
Trump is the only candidate for the other Supreme Court seat on West Virginia ballots. Trump is running to replace incumbent John Hutchison, who isn’t running again once his term ends at the end of 2024. Hutchison was first appointed by Governor Justice to fill the unexpired term of Allen Loughry, who was impeached and prosecuted on federal fraud charges.
Trump has served as a Republican delegate and senator for many years and is the well-respected chairman of the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee.
“It’s something that I’ve always been interested in doing. It wasn’t in my immediate plans until Justice Hutchison announced about a year ago he was not going to seek another term to the court. I thought, well, this might be my opportunity,” Trump said during MetroNews’ election coverage.
The court has five members, and Trump said he will bring 40 years of experience as a practicing attorney and experience as a legislator in both chambers. “I’ve been at it a long time now, and I hope I can use that experience to add to the good work that’s being done by the current members of the court.”
Attorney Ryan White won the competition for a seat on West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Judge Thomas Scarr, one of three judges appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to the new court at the end of 2021, announced last year that he would not seek election to the seat.
The race for intermediate court brought out three candidates.
They were Mychal Schulz, an attorney with the Babst Calland law firm in Charleston with decades of appellate experience; Elgine McArdle, a Wheeling attorney and former chairwoman of the West Virginia Republican Party; and White, a Charleston-based attorney and lobbyist.
Like Supreme Court, the intermediate court race is decided on the primary election cycle.