OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – Following last Tuesday’s election, Democratic Delegate Elect, Elliot Pritt now faces an extreme superminority in the legislature.
Pritt will enter the House with just 12 other Democratic seats out of 100 total.
As the only Democratic candidate left in the entire coalfields, he says he’s now feeling the weight of responsibility that it could bring.
“It is a weight, because not only do I need to represent and want to represent all of the people in my district, the 50th district, not just the people that voted for me, I want to be a representative of everybody,” says Pritt. “So, I’ll have to wear that hat, but I’ll also have to be a representative for all of the Democrats in the coalfields.”
Pritt secured the election against his Republican opponent Austin Haynes with 128 more votes. This follows a series of sexual harassment allegations made by Haynes to a number of women.
But, with Pritt’s new role as Fayette County delegate, he has many plans in store, a major one being, putting an in-patient rehab facility in Fayette County.
“There are so many symptoms of the problem we are facing and we keep treating the symptoms, foster care, school problems, petty crime, over-crowding in the prisons, depleted workforce, all of these things are because of the epidemic that we have. I really feel like we need a way to treat the cause,” he says.
In addition to improving the drug epidemic in the region, Pritt wants to help bring more support to local schools, law enforcement, and emergency service personnel.
Pritt added that he believes the people in the district made a moral choice by electing him to office, and he plans to do right by their decision.
