West Virginia House of Delegates

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The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. Only three states--Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia--refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates.

Contents 1 Membership 2 Speaker 3 House of Delegates Leadership 4 Members of the 77th West Virginia House of Delegates 5 External links and references

[edit] Membership

See Also: List of members of the 77th West Virginia House of Delegates

See Also: List of members of the 78th West Virginia House of Delegates

2005-2007:

Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	68
	Republican Party	32
Total		100
Government Majority		36

2007-2009:

Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	72
	Republican Party	28
Total		100
Government Majority		44

The House is composed of 100 members elected for two year terms. Before the 2006 elections, Democrats controlled the House by a 68-32 margin. The elections resulted in Democrats gaining four seats in the House, upping their majority to 72-28.

In the 2004 election, 18 women were elected to the House, two less than in 2002. Female delegates hold a greater proportion of seats in the House than do female senators in the West Virginia Senate. However, as the Census Bureau reports that females account for more than half of West Virginia's residents, women are greatly underrepresented in the House.

The districting system divides the state into 58 districts that elect a varying number of members. The majority of districts, 35, are single-member districts. The rest elect multiple members, anywhere from two to seven (the 30th District in Kanawha County).

Some have claimed that districts are gerrymandered in such a way as to preserve the status quo. Republicans have called for 100 single-member districts, with the districts representing compact areas of common interests.

[edit] Speaker

The Speaker of the House is selected by its members. In contrast to the tradition of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker must vote unless excused. The House rules state that in some cases, he or she is not required to vote unless the House is equally divided, or unless his vote, if given to the minority, will make the division equal. In the latter case, the question is lost.

As of the 2^nd Session of the 77^th Legislature, Robert S. Kiss served as Speaker of the House, a position he has held since January 1997 (73^rd Legislature). He is the 54th Speaker of the House of Delegates. Kiss (D-Raleigh Co.) announced in his 2004 re-election campaign that he would not be seeking a tenth term and would retire as speaker in 2006. Delegate Richard Thompson (D-Wayne Co.) and Delegate Scott Varner (D-Marshall Co.) are considered by most to be the leading candidates to replace Speaker Kiss.

[edit] House of Delegates Leadership

• Speaker of the House
  • Robert S. Kiss (D), Raleigh Co., 27th District
• Speaker Pro Tempore
  • John Pino (D), Fayette Co., 29th District
• Majority Leader
  • W. Richard Staton (D), Wyoming Co., 22nd District
• Minority Leader
  • Charles S. Trump, IV (R), Morgan Co., 51st District
• Majority Whip
  • Scott Varner (D), Marshall Co., 4th District
• Minority Whip
  • Larry Border (R), Wood Co., 9th District

[edit] Members of the 77^th West Virginia House of Delegates

Main article: List of members of the 77th West Virginia House of Delegates

• Jon Amores (D-30th District)
• William Anderson (R-8th District)
• Sam J. Argento (D-35th District)
• Tim Armstead (R-32nd District)
• Bob Ashley (R-11th District)
• Tom Azinger (R-10th District)
• Larry W. Barker (D-18th District)
• Robert D. Beach (D-44th District)
• J.D. Beane (D-10th District)
• Craig P. Blair (R-52nd District)
• Brent Boggs (D-34th District)
• Larry Border (R-9th District)
• Bonnie Brown (D-30th District)
• Richard Browning (D-22nd District)
• Greg A Butcher (D-19th District)
• Thomas A. Campbell (D-28th District)
• Samuel J. Cann, Sr. (D-41st District)
• Ray Canterbury (R-28th District)
• Mike Caputo (D-43rd District)
• Mitch Carmichael (R-12th District)
• Kevin J. Craig (D-15th District)
• Gerald L. Crosier (D-26th District)
• Joe DeLong (D-1st District)
• John Doyle (D-57th District)
• Walter E. Duke (R-54th District)
• Jeff Eldridge (D-19th District)
• John N. Ellem (R-10th District)
• Timothy R. Ennis (D-2nd District)
• Allen V. Evans (R-48th District)
• Joe C. Ferrell (D-19th District)
• Ron Fragale (D-41st District)
• Eustace Frederick (D-24th District)
• Cindy Frich (R-44th District)
• Mike Hall (R-14th District)
• Bill Hamilton (R-39th District)
• William G. Hartman (D-37th District)
• Barbara Hatfield (D-30th District)
• Nancy Houston (D-44th District)
• Greg Howard (R-16th District)
• Lidella Wilson Hrutkay (D-19th District)
• Mark Hunt (D-30th District)
• Richard J. Iaquinta (D-41st District)
• Robert S. Kiss (D-27th District)
• K. Steven Kominar (D-20th District)
• Patrick Lane (R-32nd District)
• Margarette R. Leach (D-15th District)
• Otis A. Leggett (R-7th District)
• Marshall Long (D-25th District)
• Linda Longstreth (D-43rd District)
• Tom Louisos (D-29th District)
• Virginia Mahan (D-27th District)
• Tim Manchin (D-43rd District)
• Charlene Marshall (D-44th District)
• Dale Martin (D-13th District)
• Harold Michael (D-47th District)
• Tim Miley (D-41st District)
• Cliff Moore (D-23rd District)
• Jim Morgan (D-15th District)
• John Overington (R-55th District)
• Corey L. Palumbo (D-30th District)
• Brady Paxton (D-13th District)
• Don Perdue (D-17th District)
• David G. Perry (D-29th District)
• David Pethtel (D-5th District)
• John Pino (D-29th District)
• Mary M. Poling (D-40th District)
• Thomas Mike Porter (R-25th District)
• Bill Proudfoot (D-37th District)
• Victor A. Roberts, Jr. (R-53rd District)
• William R. Romine (R-6th District)
• Ruth Rowan (R-50th District)
• Robert A. Schadler (R-49th District)
• Pattie Eagloski Schoen (R-14th District)
• Kelli Sobonya (R-16th District)
• Sharon Spencer (D-30th District)
• Douglas Stalnaker (D-38th District)
• W. Richard Staton (D-22nd District)
• William Stemple (D-33rd District)
• Dale Stephens (D-16th District)
• Debbie Stevens (R-46th District)
• Linda Sumner (R-27th District)
• Sally Susman (D-27th District)
• Randy Swartzmiller (D-1st District)
• Robert C. Tabb (D-56th District)
• Joe Talbott (D-36th District)
• Jeffery L. Tansill (R-42nd District)
• Richard Thompson (D-17th District)
• Ron Thompson (D-27th District)
• Charles S. Trump, IV (R-51st District)
• Kenneth Tucker (D-4th District)
• Scott Varner (D-4th District)
• Christopher Wakim (R-3rd District)
• Ron Walters (R-32nd District)
• Carrie Webster (D-31st District)
• Danny Wells (D-30th District)
• Harry Keith White (D-21st District)
• L. Gil White (R-3rd District)
• Larry A. Williams (D-45th District)
• Locke Wysong (D-58th District)
• Jack Yost (D-2nd District)

[edit] External links and references

• West Virginia Legislature - official site
• Chronology of Women in the West Virginia Legislature

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	State of West Virginia
Topics	Cities | Towns | Villages | Census-designated places | Governors | Colleges and universities
Capital	Charleston
Regions	Allegheny Mountains | Allegheny Plateau | Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area | Charleston Metropolitan Area | Cumberland Plateau | Eastern Panhandle | North-Central West Virginia | Northern Panhandle | Potomac Highlands | Ridge-and-valley Appalachians | Southern West Virginia
Major cities	Charleston | Huntington | Parkersburg | Wheeling | Morgantown
Smaller cities	Beckley | Bluefield | Clarksburg | Cross Lanes | Fairmont | Martinsburg | Saint Albans | South Charleston | Teays Valley | Vienna | Weirton
Counties	Barbour | Berkeley | Boone | Braxton | Brooke | Cabell | Calhoun | Clay | Doddridge | Fayette | Gilmer | Grant | Greenbrier | Hampshire | Hancock | Hardy | Harrison | Jackson | Jefferson | Kanawha | Lewis | Lincoln | Logan | Marion | Marshall | Mason | McDowell | Mercer | Mineral | Mingo | Monongalia | Monroe | Morgan | Nicholas | Ohio | Pendleton | Pleasants | Pocahontas | Preston | Putnam | Raleigh | Randolph | Ritchie | Roane | Summers | Taylor | Tucker | Tyler | Upshur | Wayne | Webster | Wetzel | Wirt | Wood | Wyoming