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WHEELING - He may be relatively new to both the Wheeling area and District 4, but Republican Bill Flanigan wouldn't be a stranger to Charleston and the House of Delegates if elected in 2024.
In 2016, Flanigan - an attorney - was appointed to the House to represent District 51 in Morgantown. But the rediscovery of cancer within him shortly after led him to not seek re-election after just one year in the chamber, and life eventually landed him in Wheeling in 2021.
He will run for the District 4 seat in the May 14 Republican primary.
"I feel my health is in good shape now," he said. "I also have always felt I left a lot of things unfinished in Charleston."
Flanigan, 50, was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2007, and it later moved into his lymph nodes. He reports that as of his last scan, he had no hot spots indicating cancer.
"I've been blessed," he said.
Flanigan's tenure in the House was brief, but he gave one important speech on the House floor that's still considered noteworthy.
He stood up to speak against a bill that would have lengthened prison terms for people bringing marijuana into the state, and he told members medical marijuana provided him numerous benefits while he was going through chemotherapy.
"Ultimately, I don't feel like I should feel like a degenerate criminal for using a medicine that gave me so many benefits," he said.
The bill to lengthen prison time for those bringing marijuana into the state was tabled. After the session, Flanigan and his family moved to Florida where medical marijuana was legal.
The following year, in 2017, the West Virginia Legislature passed a bill permitting medical cannabis in the state and named it in Flanigan's honor.
He and his family moved back to West Virginia in 2021, but to Wheeling. It was the needs of another family member who brought them to the Friendly City.
Flanigan's son Liam, now 12, was diagnosed with dyslexia, and he and his wife Melissa - an anesthesiologist at WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital - decided Liam should attend Wheeling Country Day School here. The school offers the Orton-Gillingham teaching method that helps struggling readers. Flanigan reports his son is doing well there.
"It was worth every bit of us moving here," he said.
The Flanigans also have two older daughters. Isabella, 19, played for the Philippines national soccer team in World Cup competition last year. She presently lives and plays soccer in Spain. Daughter Sophia, 15, attends Llinsly and plays volleyball.
Flanigan was raised on a farm in Harrison County, West Virginia, where he spent summers bailing hay or working on construction sites.
He obtained his undergraduate degree at the former Salem-Teikyo University, and speaks fluent Japanese. He obtained a masters in Asian Pacific studies from the University of San Francisco.
He later started a construction business with his father, who was a union carpenter. But this ended after Flanagan sustained severe shoulder injuries after being struck by a car. This led him to go on to obtain his law degree at West Virginia University's School of Law.
"What I'm trying to do is meet people as much as possible," Flanigan said. "Having not grown up in the area is a detriment. I get that. But I like to meet people and go door to door."