Current seat holder: Andy Shamblin (Republican).
Howard “Cookie” Claytor III grew up in St. Albans and attended St. Albans High School. He has worked for the past 30 years as a coach and youth mentor within his community. Claytor says his platform focuses on putting children first and improving care for vulnerable members of the community.
· Candidate campaign website & Ballotpedia (secondary source)
Andy Shamblin was born in Charleston and graduated from Nitro High School before earning a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University (WVU) and a master’s degree from Marshall University. Shamblin is a history and civics teacher at Nitro High School and a minister at Nitro Church of Christ. Before he was elected to the House of Delegates , he served three terms on the Nitro City Council. He has stated that a large portion of his motivation for running for public office was to counter the population decline amongst young people in the state after realizing that over a third of his high school’s graduating class had left the state. Shamblin has also stated that much of his motivation comes from working within the state’s public school system and the desire he has to see it improved.