FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia’s 50th delegate district race in November will be decided among a Democratic candidate, independents, write-ins, and more.
Since former Del. Elliott Pritt withdrew from the ballot Tuesday, the Republicans won’t be able to appoint a replacement candidate on the ballot. That’s because of a West Virginia law passed in 2024 by the GOP-led legislature, barring political parties from putting another candidate on the ballot if the filed candidate withdraws.
Pritt was arrested last month after allegedly grooming an underage girl into a two-year sexual relationship. He resigned his seat in the House of Delegates while in the U.S. Courthouse for his preliminary and detention hearings on July 27.
While Pritt was disavowed from the state Republican Party and the Fayette County Republican Executive Committee moved to disqualify him from the ballots, Pritt’s withdrawal from the ballot came first. Had he been disqualified, Pritt could have been replaced by Republicans in the November General Election.
The State Election Commission was scheduled to discuss the Fayette County Republicans’ letter calling for Pritt’s removal. However, since Pritt’s withdrawal came in three days beforehand, the commission will no longer take up the matter.
West Virginia Deputy Secretary of State David Cook said the office communicated with Pritt, who remains in federal custody, about the State Election Commission meeting calling for his disqualification.
“That the meeting is going to take place, these are what the claims are, this is how you respond, this is what the process is,” Cook described on MetroNews “Talkline” Wednesday. “I sent correspondence and was able to get that to Mr. Pritt within a certain timeframe, and ultimately he chose to withdraw via the form.”
Democratic Party nominee Matthew Anderson and independent Tom Louisos are candidates in the 50th district. Anderson is a longtime special education teacher in Fayette County and Louisos, a former Republican, previously served as a Fayette County Commissioner. Stacey Hensley, an Upper Kanawha Valley native, is the Constitution Party’s candidate in the race.
Additionally, Cook said there’s still time for write-in candidates.
“September 15th is the deadline,” Cook said. “Unfortunately, the independent deadline has passed, that was August 3, so the only option for a candidate is a write-in campaign.”
Cook said there’s a process to become a write-in candidate.
“They simply need to file a certificate of announcement with our office prior to that September 15, 2026, deadline,” Cook said. “We’ll get that filed and get that up on the system.”
Anderson said he just finished his 13th year in Fayette County education and is also a small business owner. He began his campaign last year, going to events throughout the county and knocking on doors. He spoke with residents to hear their concerns.
“People are really upset about data centers,” Anderson said on MetroNews “Midday” Wednesday. “Especially because Fayette County, it brings so much beauty to the state, we have so much tourism that comes in. People don’t want data centers in there.”
Among other concerns such as affording groceries, Anderson said clean drinking water is another issue that he’s heard.
“So many people have told me that that should not be political issue,” Anderson said. “But here we are in 2026, with it being a political issue that people just need clean drinking water.”
Anderson said he’s aware that he’s running in a primarily-Republican county and state.
“Luckily for me, everybody has been very receptive when I’ve knocked doors in my district,” Anderson said. “There’s some people who, they just won’t talk to you and that’s fine. Other people, they want to hear you out. They’re kind of on the fence with a lot of issues; whether they’re mad at the administration that we have in office at the state level or the administration that’s in D.C. right now.”
As for how the write-in candidates appear on the ballot, Cook said different counties do different things.
“Some ballots, they actually list the write-in candidates on the ballot,” Cook said. “In other cases, they say, ‘fill in a name for the write-in candidate’ and there will be a list on the wall of the polling place that identifies write-in candidates that have filed for office.”
While Louisos filed to run as an independent before the deadline, Cook said there could be other write-in Republicans in the Fayette County race.
“You could have multiple Republicans give us a certificate of announcement to run as a write-in candidate,” Cook said.
Three Republican candidates are under consideration by Gov. Patrick Morrisey to serve out the remainder of Pritt’s term, which is for the rest of this year. Those candidates are William Jennings Vest, Brent Alan Hudnall, and Eric Walton.