Senator Randy Smith said he has 10 grandchildren waiting to hear the news about their dad.
On Sunday evening, after three hours of deliberations and two rounds of voting, he was nominated by his Republican colleagues as the next Senate President.
A few minutes after the vote, he described himself as “shocked, overwhelmed, humbled.”
“I am not the typical type of Senate President… I was working class,” pHelp Randy, R-Tucker, a former miner who presides Senate Energy, Industry and Mines Committee.
“I just give God all the glory… and obviously God wanted me in this house and in this position, otherwise I wouldn’t be here tonight.”
Smith, 64, was first elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving two terms in the House.
Before entering politics, he worked as a department manager in a mine for more than two decades. “I think that gave me confidence in my leadership abilities,” he said.
The Senate President vote took place in a closed session in the Senate, so it is unknown which Republicans voted for Smith or how many votes he received. Before the vote, the race had narrowed down to Smith and two other candidates: Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, and Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha.
Smith said he “beat the odds” to win the race for the top spot. In West Virginia, the Senate President also serves as Lieutenant Governor.
“I had no super PACs, no money…I had powerful lobbying groups that, you know, were working against me. They know they don’t want to see me there because they know I can’t be bought,” he said.
Smith has not yet named committee chairs, but noted that he has not promised his fellow Republican senators anything to secure the nomination for Senate president. He said he still considered Tarr and Takubo friends, even though it had been a hard political few weeks leading up to the vote.
“Even tonight they were the first to congratulate me,” he said.
Smith will succeed Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley lost re-election in May primarily Tom Willis. Blair has been Senate President since 2021.
Describing himself as a conservative, Smith said West Virginia’s overwhelming support from Republicans in November’s election speaks to the type of policies they would like to see passed in the Senate.
He has his own ideas about things he would like to see prioritized, such as supporting compact businesses, continuing Gov. Jim Justice’s focus on repairing roads and improving the state’s broadband infrastructure. But Smith said the caucus’s priorities will guide its Senate.
“We all represent a district, and everyone is free to vote on what is for their district or what their moral values are, and there will never be any consequences from me,” he said. “It will be decided by the committee, you know, if we have 18 votes, it will go up and pass. There are some things I will vote against because I don’t believe in them.”
In 2022, Smith made national headlines he announced laws that would have allowed anyone to have a vasectomy or tubal ligation convicted of a drug offense in exchange for a shorter prison sentence.
The leadership in the Republican Party-controlled House of Representatives remains the same
Republicans in the House of Representatives also had their closed caucus vote on Sunday and decided to keep Roger Hanshaw in his role as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He had no resistance. Hanshaw, R-Clay, began serving in 2018 and has been in the Legislature since 2014. He is a lawyer.
The House and Senate GOP caucuses will submit their nominees to all chambers for a vote on Jan. 8. Newly elected members – 14 in the House of Representatives and 7 in the Senate – will be sworn in on the same day.
House Democrats will be Del. Retained Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, as minority leader after first electing him to the position in 2023. Hornbuckle, a financial advisor and basketball coach, has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2014. There will be that too nine Democrats in the House of Representatives in 2025, down from the current 11 following the November election results.
The Senate will have it next year only two Democrats Majority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, is continuing his current term. Sen.-elect Joey Garcia will replace longtime lawmaker Mike Caputo, D-Marion, who is retiring.
