BILL FLANIGAN

WHEELING — Republican Bill Flanigan is the new delegate who will represent District 4 from Ohio County in the West Virginia House of Delegates beginning in January.

Voters selected Flanigan over Democrat Johnny Haught in Tuesday’s general election, with Flanigan receiving 5,945 votes and Haught earning 3,069.

“I thank you. I thank you for your votes. I really appreciate it,” Flanigan said following the results. “The support has been wonderful.

“I look forward to getting down to Charleston and being their voice. It was a long road, and it came to an end. I’m very happy.”

He said his first order of business will be getting acclimated to the position.

“We’ll see who is going to be in charge … and see what legislation we’re going to get through the bin there,” Flanigan said. “I would like to concentrate on bills that would promote substance abuse awareness. If we can find ways to combat our homelessness, that would be another great shot.

“We hopefully have to find some new economic avenues that I will be researching. I have a few ideas. We’ll see how many I am able to go with.”

Flanigan, 51, 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.

An attorney, Flanigan was first appointed in 2016 to the House of Delegates 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.

While in the Legislature, Flanigan 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.

In 2017, the West Virginia Legislature passed a bill permitting medical cannabis in the state and named it in Flanigan’s honor.