FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – Longtime Fayette County educator Barry Crist has won the Republican primary for Fayette County Commission.
According to preliminary results, Crist defeated Christopher Burford and Teresa Dorsey in the three-way primary.
He will advance to the November general election to compete for the seat currently held by Allison Taylor, who is not seeking re-election. The seat carries a six-year term.
No Democrat filed for the race.
Crist served 35 years in the Fayette County school system, including 15 at the Fayette Institute of Technology, and has served as an assistant principal and principal at several county schools.
Crist says his top priority is keeping young people in Fayette County by making it a place where they can raise families and earn a living.
“If we don’t make Fayette County a county where young people feel like they can raise a family and make a living, we are doomed. It is as simple as it gets,” Crist told Newswatch in an interview before the election. “Truthfully, if you fix that problem, a lot of the other problems fix themselves.”
“I hate to see these valuable assets being sent down the road. We can’t continue to do that. These people are great and hardworking. They’re our people and we send them down the road. We’ve got to figure out a way to make our county a county that these people stay in, live in, and raise families.”
