85th West Virginia Legislature | |||||||||||||||
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Overview | |||||||||||||||
Legislative body | West Virginia Legislature | ||||||||||||||
Term | December 1, 2020 – December 1, 2022 | ||||||||||||||
Election | 2020 | ||||||||||||||
Governor | Jim Justice (R) | ||||||||||||||
House of Delegates | |||||||||||||||
Members | 100 delegates | ||||||||||||||
Speaker | Roger Hanshaw (R) | ||||||||||||||
Speaker pro tempore | Gary Howell (R) | ||||||||||||||
Majority leader | Amy Summers (R) | ||||||||||||||
Minority leader | Doug Skaff (D) | ||||||||||||||
Party control | Republican | ||||||||||||||
Senate | |||||||||||||||
Members | 34 senators | ||||||||||||||
President | Craig Blair (R) | ||||||||||||||
President pro tempore | Donna Boley (R) | ||||||||||||||
Majority leader | Tom Takubo (R) | ||||||||||||||
Minority leader | Stephen Baldwin (D) | ||||||||||||||
Party control | Republican | ||||||||||||||
Sessions | |||||||||||||||
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Special sessions | |||||||||||||||
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The 85th West Virginia Legislature was a meeting of the West Virginia Legislature whose membership consisted of those elected in the 2020 legislative elections. It lasted through two several month long regular sessions and seven special sessions in 2021 and 2022, ending with the 2022 legislative elections and the convening of the 86th Legislature. All members who served in this meeting of the Legislature are listed below.
Affiliation (Elected) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | |
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Democratic | Republican | ||
85th Legislature Start | 24 | 76 | 100 |
December 11, 2020 | 23 | 77 [hod 1] | 100 |
January 9, 2021 | 23 | 76 [hod 2] | 99 |
January 27, 2021 | 23 | 77 [hod 3] | 100 |
May 12, 2021 | 22 | 78 [hod 4] | 100 |
July 30, 2021 | 22 | 77 [hod 5] | 99 |
August 19, 2021 | 22 | 78 [hod 6] | 100 |
November 5, 2021 | 22 | 77 [hod 7] | 99 |
November 24, 2021 | 22 | 78 [hod 8] | 100 |
December 13, 2021 | 22 | 77 [hod 9] | 99 |
December 21, 2021 | 22 | 78 [hod 10] | 100 |
June 1, 2022 | 22 | 77 [hod 11] | 99 |
June 14, 2022 | 22 | 78 [hod 12] | 100 |
August 8, 2022 | 22 | 77 [hod 13] | 99 |
August 19, 2022 | 22 | 78 [hod 14] | 100 |
85th Legislature End | 22 | 78 | 100 |
Latest voting share | 22% | 78% |
Affiliation (Elected) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | |
---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Republican | ||
85th Legislature Start | 11 | 23 | 34 |
August 20, 2021 | 10 [sen 1] | 23 | 33 |
September 29, 2021 | 11 [sen 2] | 23 | 34 |
October 5, 2021 | 10 [sen 3] | 23 | 33 |
October 7, 2021 | 11 [sen 4] | 23 | 34 |
85th Legislature End | 11 | 23 | 34 |
Latest voting share | 32% | 68% |
Position | Name | Party | District | County |
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Speaker of the House | Roger Hanshaw | Republican | 33rd | Clay |
Speaker pro tempore | Gary Howell | Republican | 56th | Mineral |
Majority Leader | Amy Summers | Republican | 49th | Taylor |
Minority Leader | Doug Skaff | Democratic | 35th | Kanawha |
Majority Whip | Marty Gearheart | Republican | 27th | Mercer |
Minority Whip | Shawn Fluharty | Democratic | 3rd | Ohio |
District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of appointment |
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19 | Derrick Evans (R) | Resigned after having been federally charged for his involvement in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. [1] | Josh Booth (R) | January 27, 2021 |
28 | Jeffrey Pack (R) | Resigned after having been appointed Commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Resources' Bureau for Social Services by Governor Jim Justice. [2] | Jordan Maynor (R) | August 19, 2021 |
13 | Joshua Higginbotham (R) | Resigned after moving from his Putnam County district to Kanawha County. [3] | Kathie Hess Crouse (R) | November 24, 2021 |
42 | Barry Bruce (R) | Resigned over health concerns. [4] | Michael Honaker (R) | December 21, 2021 |
22 | Joe Jeffries (R) | Resigned to take a job out of state. [5] | Jarred Cannon (R) | June 14, 2022 |
35 | Larry Pack (R) | Resigned to join the administration of Jim Justice as a senior advisor. [6] | Andrew Anderson (R) | August 19, 2022 |
Member left office during Legislature Member appointed to fill vacancy
Position | Name | Party | District | County |
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Senate President/Lieutenant Governor | Craig Blair | Republican | 15th | Berkeley |
President pro tempore | Donna Boley | Republican | 3rd | Pleasants |
Majority Leader | Tom Takubo | Republican | 17th | Kanawha |
Minority Leader | Stephen Baldwin | Democratic | 10th | Greenbrier |
Majority Whip | Ryan Weld | Republican | 1st | Brooke |
Minority Whip | Mike Woelfel | Democratic | 5th | Cabell |
District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of appointment |
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1 | William J. Ihlenfeld II (D) | Resigned after being appointed as United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia by President Joe Biden. [8] | Owens Brown (D) | October 7, 2021 |
16 | John Unger (D) | Resigned after having been elected as a Berkeley County magistrate. [9] | Hannah Geffert (D) | September 29, 2021 |
Member left office during Legislature Member appointed to fill vacancy
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, although from 1873 to 1915, it was also required by state law to hold sessions in Charles Town in the state's Eastern Panhandle. The court also holds special sittings at various locations across the state.
Allen Hayes Loughry, II is a former justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
Craig Philip Blair is an American politician and a Republican member of the West Virginia Senate representing District 15 since January 12, 2013. Blair served non-consecutively in the West Virginia Legislature from January 2003 until January 2011 in the West Virginia House of Delegates in the District 52 seat. Blair is also the father of former WV Delegate Saira Blair.
Mike Woelfel is a Democratic member of the West Virginia Senate representing the 5th district. The 5th district includes all of Cabell County and a small portion of northern Wayne County. In 2022, Woelfel was chosen as Minority Leader of the Senate.
Elizabeth D. "Beth" Walker is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals since 2017. She was elected in the Court's first non-partisan election on May 10, 2016. She began a 12-year term on January 1, 2017. Walker is the 77th justice to serve on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the same office in 2008. She has served as chief justice in 2019 and 2023.
Stephen Baldwin Jr. is an American politician and former Democratic member of the West Virginia Senate, representing the 10th district from 2016 to 2022. During the 85th Legislature, Baldwin served as the Senate Minority Leader. Baldwin was the third Minority Leader since the Republicans took the majority in the Senate in 2014.
The impeachment of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia occurred on August 13, 2018, when the West Virginia House of Delegates voted to impeach all five justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia for charges relating to corruption, overspending, and lack of oversight. Despite being threatened in other states at other times, this is the only time in United States history that the entire bench of the highest court of a state has been impeached.
West Virginia's 16th Senate district is one of 17 districts in the West Virginia Senate. It is currently represented by Democrat Hannah Geffert and Republican Patricia Rucker. All districts in the West Virginia Senate elect two members to staggered four-year terms.
Danielle Walker is an American politician and community activist, who served as a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 until her resignation in 2023. Through her tenure, Walker was the only Black woman serving in the West Virginia Legislature. In June 2022, Walker was elected vice chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, she later resigned as vice chairwoman after her selection as the leader of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia.
Jonathan Derrick Evans is an American politician and convicted felon. He served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for the 19th district from December 1, 2020, to January 9, 2021.
Joshua Booth is an American politician who served as a Delegate from the 19th District to the West Virginia House of Delegates from 2021 to 2022. Booth is a Republican.
The 2024 West Virginia gubernatorial election will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect the governor of West Virginia, concurrently with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Republican State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is running against Huntington Mayor Steve Williams for Governor. Incumbent Jim Justice is term-limited and cannot seek re-election to a third consecutive term in office; he is instead running for the U.S. Senate. First elected in 2016 as a Democrat by 6.8 percentage points, Justice switched parties in August 2017 and won re-election in 2020 as a Republican by 33.3 percentage points. Primary elections took place on May 14, 2024.
Hannah Geffert is an American politician serving as a member of the West Virginia Senate from the 16th district. She was appointed in September 2021, succeeding incumbent Democrat John Unger, who retired to become a Berkeley County magistrate. Geffert originally announced she would serve for the remainder of the unexpired term and would not seek reelection for a full term in the 2022 election. However, on March 2, 2022 she reported that she changed her mind and would run for re-election. She cited learning that the position would go unopposed and unfinished business in Charleston as reasons for her decision.
Owens Brown is an American politician and activist who served as a member of the West Virginia Senate from the 1st district from 2021 to 2022. He was appointed in September 2021, succeeding incumbent Democrat William Ihlenfeld, who retired to become the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia. Upon his appointment, Brown became the first African American man to serve in the West Virginia Senate. In 2022, Brown lost in a primary election to delegate Randy Swartzmiller, who lost in the general election to Laura Chapman by more than 20%.
The 2022 West Virginia House of Delegates election was held on November 8, 2022, electing all 100 members of the chamber. This coincided with the election of 17 of West Virginia's 34 state senators, and the election of West Virginia's two U.S. representatives. Primary elections were held on May 10, 2022. Due to redistricting, this was the first House of Delegates election in which all members were elected from single member districts, with West Virginia following a trend of states phasing out multi-member districts in recent decades.
The 2022 West Virginia Senate elections were held on November 8, 2022, and elected 17 of the chamber's 34 members. This coincided with elections in the House of Delegates, and the election of West Virginia's two representatives. Following the 2020 census, this was the first West Virginia Senate election held after redistricting. Primary elections were held on May 10, 2022.
Kathryn Hess Crouse is an American politician and activist serving as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from the 13th district. She was appointed by Governor Jim Justice on December 2, 2021. Elected in 2022 for the 19th District, which represents a part of Putnam County.
Andrew Anderson is an American businessman and politician who served as a member West Virginia House of Delegates from the 35th district. He was appointed by Jim Justice on August 19, 2022. In the 2022 House of Delegates election to the 56th district, Anderson lost in a narrow race to Democrat Kayla Young.
West Virginia held elections on November 8, 2022. Elections for the United States House of Representatives, as well as the House of Delegates and 17 of 34 Senate seats were held. These elections were held concurrently with other elections nationwide. Primary elections were held on May 10, 2022.
The 2024 West Virginia House of Delegates elections will be held on November 5, 2024, alongside elections to the presidency, governorship, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and other offices. Primary elections were held on May 14, 2024.