OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – Mathew Anderson has been elected Delegate for West Virginia’s 50th district, marking the first time in four years that the seat was held by a Democrat.
Anderson defeated independent candidate Tom Louisos and Constitution Party candidate Stacey Hensley on the ballot. He also beat incumbent Republican William Vest, J. Pino, and Eric Walton, all of whom mounted write-in campaigns.
Anderson is a local special needs teacher and businessman. In the lead up to the election, he told NewsWatch that he focuses on issues close to voters’ hearts.
“We have to learn how to talk to people again, and we have to really focus on those kitchen table issues that we’ve kind of gotten away from over the years,” he said. “Looking over the sessions the last couple of years and seeing the bills that have come out of there, it’s not really impacted the life of the people here in the Mountain State. So I feel that if we can make a change, get better people in there and make those those changes happen, then we could have better things here in West Virginia.”
House District 50 was left vacant by Republican Elliott Pritt, who resigned and removed himself from the ballot following his arrest on federal child sexual exploitation charges. A law passed by Republicans in 2022 prohibited the party from appointing a new Republican candidate on the ballot.
