CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former state lawmaker Elliott Pritt has withdrawn from the November General Election shutting out the Republican Party from filling the ballot.
Pritt, who is in federal custody after being charged last month with allegedly grooming and enticing a 15-year-old girl to have sex, officially withdrew from the Nov. 3 election Tuesday. The paperwork was signed in the Carter County (KY) Detention Facility. Pritt resigned his House seat last week.
The move to withdraw kicks in the provisions of a 2024 law passed by the GOP-led legislature that prohibits political parties from putting another candidate on the ballot if the filed candidate withdraws.
“The law in this instance is clear,” Secretary of State Kris Warner said in a Tuesday afternoon news release. “Because the Legislature removed the opportunity for political parties to select replacement candidates on the ballot when a vacancy is created by withdrawal, there is no alternative option to replace the candidate on the ballot.”
The state Election Commission was set to take up at least two letters at a meeting set for this coming Friday seeking Pritt’s disqualification from the election. A disqualification would have allowed the GOP to replace him on the ballot. Warner said the issue is now moot. He said that question is no longer before the SEC.
The West Virginia Republican Party disavowed Pritt from the party and support of his candidacy in a unanimous vote last Saturday. The party had hoped to be able to fill the ballot but West Virginia GOP Chairman, Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone, said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline” the current priority is the victim in the criminal case.
“I don’t really care what the outcome is here because we’re doing the right thing. We are doing the right thing by disavowing this. Obviously, I’d love to have a Republican in the seat. It’s a very Republican district. We’ll do all we can to do that, but that’s not what’s important here,” he said.
During that same interview, Holstein said the legislature probably should go back and review the 2024 law.
“The withdrawal section of that bill. which is now law, is probably something we should revisit. I don’t think we should revisit what the original intent of the bill was,” Holstein said.
Matthew Anderson is the Democratic Party nominee in the 50th Delegate District race. Former Fayette County Commission President Tom Louisos filed to run as an independent last week. Monday was the last day that independents could file to be on the November ballot. Write-ins still have time to announce a campaign, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
The Fayette County Executive Committee named William Jennings Vest, Brent Alan Hudnall, and Eric Walton as candidates at a meeting Monday that will be submitted to serve the remainder of Pritt’s term and hoped to meet on Sunday to name a Republican for the ballot but that won’t happen now.