WHEELING – Republican Derek Ennis is one step closer to being a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Ennis defeated businessman and entrepreneur Dolph Santorine in Tuesday’s primary election to win the GOP nomination to the District 4 seat in the House.

Ennis received 863 votes in the race.; and Santorine, 642.

Ennis did not return messages for comment late Tuesday night.

He will face in the Nov. 3 general election Democrat Joe Jividen, who ran unopposed for the nomination on Tuesday.

The District 4 seat is presently occupied by Delegate Bill Flanigan, R-Ohio, who won a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

Ennis has experience in both mining and industrial safety, and during his campaign he explained he wants more jobs with safe working environments to keep West Virginia’s children in the state.

Ennis grew up in West Liberty and graduated from Wheeling Park High School in 1997. He lives in the Valley Grove/West Alexander area.

He attended West Liberty University before transferring to Marshall University. While there, he earned a master’s degree in safety management.

Ennis started in construction and was the construction manager for the company that built the AEP chimney in Marshall County.

He next spent more than 13 years with a mine safety job in the mining industry.

This led him to get involved with the Fire Brigades Mine Protection, a group of underground first responders, mine rescue and search teams. He served as the corporate trainer for the program at Murray Energy.

Ennis also owns student housing apartment buildings in West Liberty.