A surprise to absolutely no one, Doug Skaff switched joined the Republican Party and ran as a candidate for Secretary of State of West Virginia.
Reporters have been hearing rumors about a possible party switch since early summer, but Skaff denied them when asked about it resigned as Speaker of the West Virginia House of Representatives, and walked back those comments a month later when he resigned from the House of Representatives.
Skaff, the president of the Charleston Gazette-Mail’s parent company, HD Media, told According to the newspaper, he no longer has any ties to the National Democratic Party. (Full disclosure: I was formerly employed as city editor at the Gazette-Mail.)
“I’m not the first to change party affiliation, and I won’t be the last,” Skaff said.
And that’s true. HD Media owner Doug Reynolds, too switched to the Republican Party in November 2021, three years after purchasing the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Gov. Jim Justice, who ran as a Democrat in the 2016 election, announced his return to the Republican Party in 2017 when his best friend/role model, former President Donald Trump, held a rally in Huntington, West Virginia.
Justice was a registered Republican before running for governor when he switched to the Democratic Party. West Virginia was a blue state for decades – Democrats were the majority party in the Statehouse for 83 years. We had 20 Democratic governors versus 15 Republican governors, then Justice, who was both. The three governors before Justice were all Democrats.
Republican presidential candidates have won West Virginia every year since 2000. Our representatives in Congress have gone from all Democrats to three Republicans and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a very conservative Democrat who often votes with Republicans.
But wait, there’s more:
- Former U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins joined the Republican Party in 2013 before successfully running for Congress in 2014.
- Sen. Jason Barrett, R-Berkely, won a state House seat as a Democrat in 2012 and again in 2016 switched joined the Republican Party in December 2020 and was elected to his current office in November 2022.
- Former Rep. Mike Bates, who served in the state House of Representatives from 2014 to 2022, announced his switch to the Republican Party in May 2021. He lost the Republican primary in May 2022.
- Former state Sen. Daniel Hall, R-Wyoming, ran for a House seat as a Republican in 2006 and lost. He then ran for a Senate seat as a Democrat in 2012 and won. Then in 2014, Hall switched He returned to the Republican Party the day after the 2014 midterm elections, allowing Republicans to control both chambers of the Statehouse for the first time in 83 years.
- Sen. Glenn Jeffries, R-Putnam, switched to the Republican Party in December 2022.
- Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, switched to the Republican Party in April 2023 after defeating the Republican incumbent as a Democrat in 2022.
So what reasons do these men give for the change? Have their views and beliefs changed? Are you out of touch with the Democrats? No, they say the national party is wrong.
“These were die-hard West Virginians who were pro-life, pro-gun, pro-coal, pro-gas and all switched parties. So like many West Virginians, my ideals have never changed. It was always like that for me too. “I was registered as a Democrat and I’m proud to be on the Republican team and I just can’t identify with the national party anymore,” Skaff continued MetroNews Talkline on Thursday.
But the Republican Party is not proud to welcome Skaff to the team.
“The West Virginia Republican Party recognizes the philosophical nuances that may exist within the party and welcomes those who truly believe in our cause; However, Republican voters are sometimes faced with the task of distinguishing between “philosophical nuances” and “diametric ideological opposition.” “Now that Skaff calls himself a ‘Republican,’ despite his famously liberal record in the House, the upcoming primary is one of those moments,” Elgine McArdle, chairwoman of the West Virginia Republican Party, said in a letter opinion.
The Democratic Party wasn’t unhappy about his departure either.
West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin responded to the message with one snappy press release He stated, “While I appreciate that Doug is finally putting his cards on the table about his long-rumored, politically expedient party switch, I am surprised that he would try to reinvent himself as a right-wing conservative in the process.”
Obviously, Republicans are winning more elections in West Virginia than Democrats, but will becoming part of the supermajority party aid Skaff?
Our once blue state has turned so red that 25 Republicans ran unopposed in the 2022 general election.
The 2024 election already seems to be Republican-leaning – As of Friday154 have filed pre-candidacy forms, while only 23 Democrats have done so. However, there is still time – the deadline for submission is January.
But that doesn’t mean voters are flocking to the Republican Party. In 2022, 33.22% of West Virginia voters were registered as Democrats, while 39% were registered as Republicans – leaving about 28% of voters as independent or third-party voters.
If anything, the party change only gave Skaff fewer chances – so far, all six people who have filed as preliminary candidates for secretary of state are Republicans. If he had been the only Democrat running, he would have at least made it to the general election.
However, the party switch may not be the strangest part of the news. The Secretary of State’s responsibilities include overseeing elections and overseeing corporate formation and licensing matters. The president of a newspaper company is running for secretary of state, the office that also regulates legal newspaper advertising, which generates a huge portion of newspaper revenue.
Ballot keeps track of state lawmakers switching parties — 10 have been registered so far in 2023, not counting Skaff, who was still listed as a Democrat as of Monday afternoon, according to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.
“Over the last few decades, red states have gotten redder, blue states have gotten bluer, and the number of swing states has declined dramatically,” said William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute, Politico said. “When this happens, minority parties lose power in the legislature and the benefits of being in the majority increase.”
What are some of these benefits? Now, Pritt told Politico, since he joined the Republican Party, state agencies are actually returning his calls.
If a journalist you love has floated the idea of joining the Republican Party this week, know it’s because he’s tired of being harassed by the government.
