Former Delegate Elliott Pritt Withdraws From Ballot Amid Child Exploitation Charges
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CHARLESTON – Elliott Pritt, the former Democrat-turned-Republican lawmaker who resigned from the West Virginia House of Delegates after being accused by federal authorities of sexually exploiting a child, will now no longer appear as a candidate in November.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, Pritt voluntarily withdrew as a Republican candidate for the House District 50 in Fayette County after resigning last week from his House seat.
The official withdrawal notice received Tuesday afternoon. According to State Code, candidates wishing to withdraw from the general election ballot must file a notarized statement of withdrawal by Tuesday, Aug. 11, in order to be removed from the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
The State Election Commission is scheduled to meet Friday, Aug. 7, at noon. According to its agenda, the SEC was slated to consider requests to disqualify Pritt as a candidate and allow the Fayette County Republican Executive Committee to replace Pritt on the general election ballot. The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Tuesday that with Pritt’s withdrawal, the agenda item would no longer be considered.
Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, filed charges against Pritt last month of one count of enticement of a minor. Pritt waived his preliminary and detention hearings last week and remains in federal custody awaiting indictment by a federal grand jury. If convicted, Pritt could face a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in a federal facility.
Pritt is accused of using several social media platforms, including Roblox and Snapchat, to coerce a minor into illegal sexual activity beginning when the minor was in eighth grade and continuing when the minor entered high school.
Investigators said the relationship between the minor and Pritt, a public school teacher, became physical, with the minor meeting Pritt in his classroom at Oak Hill High School in late 2025 to engage in sexual activity. Pritt continued to exchange messages with the minor into 2026, including urging the minor not to tell anyone about their prior contact.
Pritt was first elected to the House as a Democrat in 2022 and switched to a Republican in 2023. He was one of five assistant majority leaders in the House and served on the House Education Committee.
A law passed in 2025 will prevent the Fayette County Republican Executive Committee from replacing Pritt on the November general election ballot. House Bill 4350, passed by the legislature in 2024, only allows from replacing a party nominee on the general election ballot in the event of a disqualification, such as in the instance the candidate is convicted of a felony.
“The Office of the Secretary of State serves a ministerial role for candidate filing, and has very little authority to exercise discretion in candidacy matters,” said Secretary of State Kris Warner in a statement Tuesday. “The law in this instance is clear. Because the Legislature removed the opportunity for political parties to select replacement candidates on the ballot when a vacancy is created by withdrawal, there is no alternative option to replace the candidate on the ballot.”
Candidates on the ballot for House District 50 include independent Tom Louisos, Jeannie Carpenter (no party affiliation), Constitution Party candidate Stacey Hensley, and Democratic Party candidate Mathew Anderson, a special education teacher in the Fayette County school system. Write-in candidates have until Tuesday, Sept. 15, with the Secretary of State’s Office.
The West Virginia Republican Executive Committee voted unanimously to disavow Pritt during its summer meeting last Saturday.