WV GOP can't remove House candidate after eye-popping racist posts

Amelia Ferrell Knisely, West Virginia Watch

Chris Clagett is the Republican candidate for House of Delegates District 91, which represents southern Berkeley County.

A Republican House of Delegates candidate in Berkeley County remains on the ballot after authoring several racist posts on social media that targeted Black women and Muslims. He reportedly called the Confederate flag “beautiful.”

Chris Clagett’s social media activity, first reported by West Virginia Watch in September, drew ire from House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.

“If the voters of Berkeley County choose to send that attitude to the House of Delegates, it will be a lonely place,” Hansshaw told MetroNews in an interview last month.

If elected, Clagett could be left off House committees, giving him little input in the legislative process.

Early voting is underway across West Virginia and continues through Oct. 31. Clagett faces Democratic challenger David Michaels in the race.

State law prohibits the West Virginia Republican Party from replacing him at this point if Clagett had chosen to resign.

“The West Virginia Republican Party condemns the language used on social media. It is not reflective of the values of our party nor the values of our candidates running for office,” said Josh Holstein, chair of the West Virginia GOP.

The West Virginia Democratic Party called for Clagett to withdraw from the race “because he is unfit to serve the people of this district.”

Clagett did not return an email for this story nor has he responded to previous interview requests about his social media activity. He confirmed he authored the posts during a radio interview with Eastern Panhandle station WRNR about the social media posts.

In January, Clagett posted on X, “Maybe because black women are the most ill-mannered, ill-behaved, loud-mouthed demographics on the face of the Earth. Does that clarify it for you … ?” He responded to a post that said, “They always think saying I’m not doing anything means they’re not resisting arrest.”

He told WRNR radio hosts that, “context is everything,” then later said the post he responded to with the words “ill-mannered” included Black women “behaving in exactly the manner I described.”

Clagett is running to represent the 91st District in the House, which covers mostly southern Berkeley County. He ran unopposed in the May primary election.

The district is heavily Red.

Clagett’s political platform focuses on medical freedom from vaccinations, immigration enforcement and curriculum reform in public schools.

His fundraising activity has been light, with the latest campaign filing showing he has about $2,800 in cash on hand.

Michaels has $10,307 cash on hand with about a week to go until Nov. 3 Election Day. He has focused his campaign on locality pay for teachers and improving infrastructure in Berkeley County during its population increase.

No candidates with the Constitution Party, Libertarian Party or Mountain Party filed to run in the race.

The 91st district has seen a string of controversies involving its Republican House candidates. Previous candidate Joseph de Soto was arrested after making terrorist threats against sitting lawmakers.

House Republicans in January voted to vacate the seat instead of expelling de Soto, saying it was the correct way to deal with the seat since de Soto was on house arrest and never sworn in.

De Soto switched his party affiliation to Democrat before his arrest, prompting an ongoing legal challenge from the state Democratic Party that the seat should have been filled by a Democratic candidate under state law.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed Ian Masters to the House seat after Republican delegate-elect Joseph de Soto, who won the November 2024 election.

Last summer, Masters denied allegations that he was responsible for an antisemitic comment made by a private Instagram account that used his name and is linked to an organization he recently led.

Masters is not seeking reelection.

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