Charlotte Pritt is an educator, businesswoman, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. From 1984 to 1988, she served in the West Virginia House of Delegates. From 1988 to 1996, she served in the West Virginia State Senate. In 1996, she ran as a Democrat for governor and lost narrowly, but made history as the first woman to secure the gubernatorial nomination of either of the two major political parties. Today, she is the president of Better Balance, a West Virginia-based educational and wellness consulting firm.
Before securing the Democratic nomination in 1996, Pritt also ran for Governor in the primary election in 1992, but lost to Gaston Caperton. She gained notoriety initially by challenging then-Governor Caperton on his grocery and gasoline taxes and opposition to collective bargaining. Pritt entered the race in 1992 after 100,000 people signed a petition. Prior to entering politics, Pritt was a high school English teacher and a college professor teaching on all levels of education. She directed two Federal education grants, the National Writing Program in West Virginia, and is an emminent educator of note.