WV Politics

By: Phil Kabler, Statehouse Reporter | Posted: May 8, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail

Among contested House of Delegate primaries of local interest Tuesday, Dean Jeffries and David “Woody” Holmes won nominations for seats held by two long-serving delegates in the House.

Jeffries, an Elkview insurance agent prevailed in a three-person race for the Republican nomination for the 40th District seat held by House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, for nearly 20 years. Armstead opted not to seek re-election.

Jeffries, who billed himself as a Christian conservative Republican, and had endorsements from Armstead and the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee, had 894 votes (53 percent), defeating lawyer Kenneth Tawney, who had 542 votes (32 percent). Ron Shamblin, a longtime union crane operator, who broke with the GOP over recent votes to repeal the state’s prevailing wage law and to enact right-to-work, finished third with 267 votes.

Jeffries faces Melissa Riggs Huffman, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, in November’s general election.

In the 39th District, a Republican stronghold seat held for years by Delegate Ron Walters, R-Kanawha, until his sudden, forced resignation in March, David “Woody” Holmes prevailed in the Democrat primary, in what he hopes will be the first step in an effort to “flip” the longtime GOP seat.

Holmes, a union pipefitter and son of the late longtime state senator and Senate clerk Darrell Holmes, defeated Alex Urban, a West Virginia University law student, by a 641-578 margin.

He will face Delegate Sharon Malcolm, R-Kanawha, in the general election. Malcolm, who was appointed to the House on March 23 to replace Walters, is a retired state employee who was the first woman to serve as assistant doorkeeper in the House and assistant sergeant-at-arms in the Senate. She was unopposed in the Republican primary.

Meanwhile, in two multi-candidate House district races in Kanawha County — the 35th Republican and the 36th Democrat — the last-place finishers in their respective primaries were the proverbial odd men out.

In the 35th Republican primary, Delegates Moore Capito, Eric Nelson, and Charlotte Lane won nominations, along with Ed Burgess, while Bill Johnston finished fifth in the four-member district.

In the 36th Democratic primary, Delegates Larry Rowe and Andrew Robinson were nominated, along with Amanda Estep-Burton, while Clint Casto and James Elam were eliminated.

Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220 or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.