Democrats more than doubled the number of seats they’ll hold in West Virginia’s House of Delegates, although Republicans will still hold a supermajority.
All 100 seats were up for voter choices in the House of Delegates.
Right now, the House of Delegates has 9 Democrats and 91 Republicans.
Democrats won 21 seats on election night. The new delegates will be seated early next year.
Democrats were competitive in more seats this year.
Two years ago, Democrats only had 59 candidates in 100 House of Delegates races.
This year, Democrats fielded 89 candidates in the 100 House races.
“We feel pretty good,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin, who is also a state delegate from Kanawha County.
Pushkin noted that several of the winning races were won by women, “and that’s a pretty good night.”
Democrats went around the state for a kitchen table tour to talk about economic issues affecting households. Pushkin said that paid off.
“People are not happy with the way things are going in this state. They’re definitely not happy with the way things are going in this country. I think the results speak for themselves,” Pushkin said.
“We have candidates that worked very, very hard, and I also want to congratulate all those candidates that came up short tonight. We had a lot of great Democrats running on the ballot, and they went out and they were going door to door, and they were doing the town halls, and they’re doing all the things that our Republican counterparts should have been doing for years.”
State Republican Party Chairman Josh Holstein, who is also a state delegate from Boone County, said West Virginia’s dominant party held up well under circumstances that were rough for the GOP nationally.
“With this national environment that we’re seeing, I’m I’m not particularly surprised that some of these races were as close as they are,” Holstein said on MetroNews election night coverage.
“One thing I am happy about to see is that we’re going to have at least 80 House seats and 30 state Senate seats as well — well beyond our needed numbers for a supermajority. But there’s no doubt that on the national level, there’s been a massive shift in the Democrat direction.”
Democrats held the nine seats that they already had. Democrat Karen Schuler Stakem, a newcomer, won a seat previously held by Shawn Fluharty, who ran for state Senate this year.
Democrats who picked up seats include Dennis Rempel in the Parkersburg area, winning a seat where House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss was defeated in the primary election.
Former Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, a Democrat who ran for governor a couple of years ago, won a House seat. Ric Griffith, a former Democratic delegate who runs a well-known Pumpkin House in Kenova, won his race shortly after Halloween.
Democrat Matthew Anderson won a Fayette County race for a seat vacated by former Republican Delegate Elliott Pritt, who resigned after being arrested on child exploitation charges.
Marissa Jackson, a Democrat defeated incumbent Walter Hall in a Kanawha County district. Shannon Welsh, a Democrat, defeated Paul Howe in Harrison County.
Democrat Linda Longstreth, a former delegate, defeated Phil Mallow.
Democrats Michael Wendell and Eddie Wagoner in Monongalia County defeated incumbents Geno Chiarelli and David McCormick.
Democrat Lucia Williams won in a Berkeley and Jefferson county district that had been held by Chris Anders, leader of the Freedom Caucus.
In Jefferson County, Democrats Lucia Valentine and Jenny Thacker beat incumbents Wayne Clark and Bill Ridenour.
“There’s all kinds of things we have to like hit the ground running, and I am really excited about it. We’re going to work with Democrats and Republicans. We have to work together in order to make this happen,” Thacker told WEPM Radio.