Down but not out: Criss files as write-in candidate for West Virginia House of Delegates seat
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CHARLESTON - House of Delegates Finance Committee Chairman Vernon Criss filed paperwork Tuesday afternoon to run as a write-in candidate for the 12th District seat he occupies after losing the May Republican primary to Charles Hartzog.
Criss, R-Wood, was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1987, serving until 1990. After 26 years, the Wood County businessman returned to the House, winning election in 2016.
The May primary marked the first time since 1986 that unaffiliated voters could not cast a ballot in a Republican primary after the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee voted in 2024 to close their primary to independent voters.
Criss lost to Hartzog, a Walmart employee, in the May Republican primary by a count of 688-423. Criss said the closing of the primary prevented unaffiliated voters from being able to vote for him.
"Because of the closed primary process that we went through this time in May, approximately 40% of the vote in my district were independents and they did not have the chance to vote in this primary," he said. "Because of the repercussions of that, people are finally waking up ... that the only way they can have an opportunity to vote is to be able to in the fall on the ballot through a write-in process."
In Wood County alone, voter turnout for the May primaries was 24.62%, with 13,654 ballots cast countywide compared to 55,468 registered voters. In 2022, Criss received 1,125 votes in an open GOP midterm primary in which he was unopposed.
"Because of the closed primary, we had about 1,000 people vote," Criss said. "So, that’s out of 18,000 people (registered to vote in House District 12). When you look at (Hartzog) getting the votes that he did, that’s less than 4% of the citizens in that district that gave him the opportunity to be the Republican nominee."
"At least 96% of the people in that district ... did not take the opportunity to vote," he continued. "We want to give that opportunity back to them in November, and that’s why we’re going to go through this process."
Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Morrisey-affiliated political action committees and independent expenditure groups spent thousands of dollars to oppose Criss, a vocal critic of the governor, and support Hartzog, including Morrisey coming to Parkersburg with Americans for Prosperity to door knock with Hartzog.
"It was amazing," Criss said. "The fact that the governor, personally, and several of his people, provided some door-to-door operations along with coordinating staff from AFP ... to go out and spend nearly $100,000 against me in this process ... simply because I’ve been outspoken as chairman of the Finance Committee ... I think simply that he just was doing whatever he could to make sure that I wasn’t going to return."
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, potential write-in candidates must submit a certificate of announcement at least 49 days before an election (Tuesday, Sept. 15) and adhere to the same financial reporting and ethics disclosures as candidates affiliated with political parties. Poll workers are instructed to provide voters with the official write-in list but are prohibited from discussing specific candidates.
"Basically, you will be able to go to the voting machine, and there will be a place on the ballot for a write-in," Criss said. "Part of our process is to educate the people, and the voters, how that process goes through."
While he could serve out the remainder of his term and leave public service at the end of the year, Criss said there is more work he wants to do in the House of Delegates. As chairman of the Finance Committee, Criss said he wants to continue to help manage the state’s multibillion-dollar general revenue budget and provide oversight for how the Morrisey administration spends taxpayer dollars.
"We have done some amazing things as far as the other structure of our tax system is concerned," he said. "I think that the people, especially in Wood County, recognize that, and they see the value in having somebody like myself in the legislature to look out for the betterment of Wood County. I think they need to have an opportunity to do that again."
Other candidates in the 12th House District are Democratic candidate Dennis V. Rempel and Libertarian Stephen Thomas Smith.
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.