According to the press release, Gov. Jim Justice on Friday appointed Del. Darren Thorne, R-Hampshire, was appointed to the state Senate, filling the seat vacated earlier this month by Sen. Charlie Trump, R-Morgan.
The Senate seat includes all of Hampshire and Morgan counties as well as parts of Berkeley and Mineral counties, according to the news release.
“I am honored that Governor Justice has chosen me to be the next senator from the 15th District,” Thorne said in a separate state Senate news release. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the House of Representatives and look forward to serving both my current constituents in Hampshire County and my new constituents in Morgan and Berkeley counties in this new role. I look forward to this opportunity and to working with Senate leadership to move West Virginia forward.”
Trump – whose Senate seat was not up for election this year – resigned in early December after winning his race for the state Supreme Court of Appeals seat.
Thorne won re-election to the House of Representatives in November. With his move to the Senate, a Republican must now be appointed to his House seat.
Thorne is a farmer by profession and was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2022. He has served as the lead sponsor of seven bills in the last two sessions. One of them – House Bill 5349, the Truth in Food Labeling Act – was signed into law.
Thorne presented in the 2023 and 2024 sessions two bills twice: one that needs to be banned Drag performances in front of minors and another would have dictated how schools in the state teach concepts related to race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. Both bills failed in committee in both years.
Trump was elected to the state Senate in 2014. He successfully ran for office after serving in the House of Representatives from 1992 to 2006 and serving as minority leader for the then Democratic-controlled body beginning in 1999. He will fill the Supreme Court seat currently held by Chief Justice John A. Hutchison, who announced last year that he would retire from the judicial body.
