Photo by Steven Allen Adams Del. Joshua Holstein (left) talks with Marshall University Student Government Association member Michael Borsuk prior to being elected Saturday as the next chairman of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee.

MORGANTOWN – The West Virginia Republican Party will have a new leader to take it into the 2026 midterm election cycle.

The West Virginia Republican Executive Committee met for its summer meeting Saturday at the Erickson Alumni Center on the campus of West Virginia University to select Del. Joshua Holstein, R-Boone, for its new chairman.

The state committee selected Holstein over three other candidates: Pocahontas County resident, businessman, and author Michael T. George; and Brooke County resident and U.S. Army veteran Wes Parry.

Both Holstein and Parry are members of the state committee, while George is not an elected or appointed committee member. During the first round of voting, none of the three nominees had a clear majority. George received the least number of votes on the first round, so his name was dropped from consideration for the second round, where Holstein prevailed over Parry. In the second round, Holstein received 63 votes to Parry’s 57 votes.

Holstein, 23, was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2020 and is in his third two-year term. He serves as vice chairman of the House Legal Services Subcommittee and is a member of the House Energy and Public Works Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. He is a 2022 graduate of Marshall University.

Holstein came into Saturday’s meeting with the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va. The previous two-term governor of West Virginia expressed his support for Holstein earlier this month in a social media post.

During his nomination speech, Holstein talked about why he chose to become a Republican in Boone County – what was once a Democratic stronghold known for coal mining.

“I grew up in the southern coal fields of West Virginia in Boone County during a time when everything was good,” Holstein said. “Then the Obama administration came, and my dad lost his job. My uncles lost their jobs. My cousins lost their jobs. My school started being depleted completely of all of our resources. Our teachers moved. We lost population. We were devastated.”

That happened because of liberal policies that were implemented on a federal level,” Holstein continued. “The folks of Southern West Virginia and the folks of all of West Virginia who had consistently voted for Democrats over and over and over and over for 87 years were being cast aside like they were meaningless by federal policies. And that is what really inspired me to become a Republican, and that’s what formed my values as a conservative.”

Holstein’s platform included improving communications with committee members to foster improved relationships, a renewed focus on flipping local and county elections to Republican and conservative candidates, improving fundraising, and expand outreach to unaffiliated voters who will need to switch their registration to Republican in order to participate in the 2026 GOP primary.

“I do believe it is our responsibility to let folks know that we made that decision, and I believe the way that we do that is by me as chair…going out and speaking and sharing that information with folks, doing digital outreach, a mail campaign, and I believe that we will be able to get the resources together to do that,” Holstein said.

Holstein succeeds Matthew Herridge as chairman of the state Republican Party. Herridge, who was selected as chairman the state committee’s January 2024 winter meeting in Charleston, succeeded Wheeling attorney Elgine McArdle. He had previously served as finance chairman of the party.

In a resignation letter sent to committee members earlier in July, Herridge said he will instead focus on his duties with the Department of Commerce, where he serves as cabinet secretary under Gov. Patrick Morrisey. The department recently reabsorbed the Department of Economic Development.

Herridge said also he had delayed his resignation until a new executive director for the state party could be hired. Ryan Jacinto is now the state party’s executive director. Holstein will serve the remainder of Herridge’s term, which is up in 2026.

Gov. Morrisey addressed members of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee at the start of Saturday’s Summer meeting.

“You folks are the true leaders of the party,” Morrisey said. “You’re on the ground every single day. You’re working hard. I am so deeply grateful for you. I work for you, and I want to make sure we’re carrying that message, that party platform message, further and further along so that West Virginians get the benefits, the best type of governance built on conservative principles. That’s certainly what we need to do here in West Virginia.”

The next statewide election cycle begins with the May 2026 primary elections, where one U.S. Senate seat, both U.S. House of Representatives seats, an unexpired West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals seat, an Intermediate Court of Appeals seat, 100 House of Delegates seats, and at least 17 state Senate seats will be on the ballot.

Republican voter registration in West Virginia exceeded Democratic Party voter registration at the beginning of 2021 – the first time since 1933. As of June, Republican Party registration was 499,237, representing 42.16% of the state’s 1.18 million registered voters. The Republican Party’s June registration numbers were an 17% increase over June 2020 registration numbers of 426,851.

“Let’s go get them,” Morrisey said. “We’ve got some big elections coming up in 2026, big midterms. This is a time where you get to actually put your stamp on it – not just a Republican supermajority, but a conservative Republican supermajority – with the right race.”