West Virginia just emerged from a primary election that was glutted with negative campaigning, from the mailers stuffed into mailboxes to the TV ads running on loop. Yet there were some candidates to refused to latch onto that negativity and partisanship.

West Virginia Del. Bill Flanigan was one of those candidates. And he was rewarded with becoming one of the newest justices on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Flanigan defeated incumbent Justice Tom Ewing last Tuesday, and will be sworn in as a new justice as soon as Gov. Patrick Morrisey certifies the election. Flanigan ­– twice a Republican delegate, once in Monongalia County and once in Ohio County­­–eschewed partisan politics for a simple message during his Supreme Court campaign. He just wants to make West Virginia a better place for everyone.

That’s nothing new for Flanigan. During his time in the House, he wasn’t one to blindly toe a party line. He sought solutions he thought were the best for the people of his state. And when legislators strayed away from important issues, he wasn’t quiet.

“I feel like I’ve always been fair,” he said. “I’ve learned people like to be heard. They want to be heard.”

That spirit resonated loudly with voters last week. In facing a sitting justice in the non-partisan election, Flanigan won by more than 32,000 votes and 17 percentage points. It wasn’t a squeaker. Frankly, it was a message sent.

And now he’ll bring the spirit that served him well in the Legislature to the Supreme Court, where he’ll join another new justice, retired Circuit Court Judge H.L. “Kirk” Kirkpatrick, who emerged as the victor in a five-person race that included another sitting Justice, Gerald Titus.

Even in a new role, Flanigan doesn’t sound like he’s going to change how he operates.

“I will be going out and meeting as many people as I could possibly meet — nonpartisan people, many people on both sides of the aisle … I’m interested in doing that,” he said.

That’s good for the state Supreme Court and good for West Virginia.