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Big Switcheroo Hits W.Va. Senate

Those surprised by the party switch from Democrat to Republican for Putnam County state Sen. Glenn Jeffries, shouldn’t be. Jeffries is a smart guy and can read the tea leaves like anyone else.

Jeffries was already an anomaly. His home county is one of the most Republican red counties in the state. The fact he kept getting elected as a Democrat there was quite remarkable and due to a combination of having part of Kanawha County (and Charleston) in his district and the fact that Jeffries is well liked in his community.

Jeffries could best be described as a conservative-to-moderate Democrat. I wouldn’t peg him as a liberal/progressive. He was a Democrat in areas where that matters, such as being very pro-labor and pro-union. But he would occasionally buck the party on social conservative bills.

But Jeffries has eyeballs. He just saw his co-senator – Kanawha County Democratic state Sen. Richard Lindsay – lose to another Democrat-turned-Republican in former delegate Mark Hunt. He saw his friend — state Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone – lose to former Republican U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart after part of southern Kanawha County was added to his district. And Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin, the last Democratic lawmaker in his part of southeast West Virginia, fell to Republican Vince Deeds.

He made a decision that best reflects the majority of the registered voters in his home county. He will now be in the decision-making process for what legislation moves forward in the state Senate. And he may have more of a say in blocking bills he doesn’t like. I suspect Jeffries will join state senators Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, and David Stover, R-Wyoming, in the moderate wing of the Senate Republican Caucus.

But you can’t blame Democratic leaders for being salty at Jeffries’ party switch. The Senate has 34 members and now only three will be Democrats. Their ability to block legislation is extremely limited. All three Democratic senators can share a single office now.

***

We’re not even through 2022 and I already have a feeling that the next 16 or so months heading into the 2024 Republican primary for governor is going to get crowded and ugly.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, is officially in the governor’s race with his mother, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., already endorsing him. State Auditor J.B. McCuskey and Secretary of State Mac Warner are strongly thinking about a run for governor (an event is already being scheduled for Jan. 10 at the State Capitol Building for Warner to officially announce what seat he will run for).

Auto dealer magnate Chris Miller — son of U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va. – announced for governor nearly a year ago. And Attorney General Patrick Morrisey … well, he doesn’t know what he wants to do, considering a run for governor, U.S. Senator, or 2nd Congressional District.

Expect more to jump in before it is all said and done.

***

Speaking of governors, our own Gov. Jim Justice’s answer last week for why he chose not to mention once that he issued a proclamation Nov. 12 that will end the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency left much to be desired.

In essence, Justice said he never mentioned the proclamation because he didn’t think it was that important, and had it not been found by sleuths on Twitter, he said he would have never mentioned it.

This is a governor who constantly puts out press releases for this proclamation or that proclamation, but a proclamation ending the pandemic state of emergency goes unmentioned and unacknowledged? If Justice had said he didn’t wanted to trumpet the news while some older West Virginians continue to die from the virus, that would have been a good answer. Instead, Justice said he didn’t want to start a “hoopla.”

The hoopla happened regardless.

Also of note: with the pandemic ending on Jan. 1, 2023, you’d think the press briefings that keep reporters out of the Governor’s Reception Room and force us onto Zoom would end. Nope, Justice said he will keep doing press briefings this way from now until his term ends in 2024.

I get you, as a reader and a citizen, likely don’t care and I get that. In fact, I know you don’t care because Justice’s livestream press briefings don’t get a lot of viewers on YouTube. But we really do miss out on opportunities to ask multiple questions or follow-up questions. It’s amusing to me I can be in the same room as the governor for Board of Public Works meetings just down the hall from the Governor’s Reception Room, yet I can’t sit in a chair in the same reception room for these briefings.

The only reason we do briefings this way is because of COVID. If the state is ending the COVID state of emergency, these virtual briefings should be opened up for in-person press coverage.

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