Republican Senatorial Executive Committeeman 13th Senatorial District
Wes Nugent serves Republicans in Senate District 13 on the Executive Committee.Should a vacancy arise within the jurisdiction of the 13th Senatorial District in an office held by a Republican or for a general election ballot, or is a need arises to fill an
elected office by a Party Committee, the Executive Committee, known as the Vacancy Committee, is called to act.
About Senatorial District Executive Committees
For vacancies in the Senate, a gubernatorial appointment is required if less than two months and two years are left in the vacant senator’s term. A temporary gubernatorial appointment is required for any vacancy that has more than two months and two years remaining. The person who is selected by the governor to fill the seat on an interim basis, serves until the next scheduled general election. A special election must be held to determine a permanent replacement. The executive committee of the political party that holds the vacant Senate seat is responsible for making recommendations to the governor on any appointment.
A State Senate District Committee, which may also be referred to as a “Vacancy Committee”, is composed of one (1) man and one (1) woman from each county in their respective districts, elected by the Republican primary election voters during the May primary during each non-Presidential election year.
Each Senate District shall meet subject to the call of the State Chairman or of the Chairman of the Senate District Committee. Such committee shall not be allowed to raise money, spend money, adopt resolutions, or rules that are inconsistent with official rules.
Senate District Committees exist for the purpose of filling vacancies in the State Senate, as the case may be, filling vacancies on the general election ballot in accordance with West Virginia Code, or any other duty or obligation imposed by Party Rule or State Law.
Wherever else public or Party law requires the filling of an elected office by a Party Committee, the State Senate Executive Committee, whatever the case may be, shall fulfil their obligations in accordance with state law as provided by official rules.
Criteria for Filling Vacancies
As per state law, West Virginia Republican Party bylaws call for a four-part criteria for filling vacancies in State Senate Districts as explained:
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In order to be eligible to be nominated for a vacancy in elected office by the Republican Party, a candidate shall be constitutionally eligible to hold such office at least sixty (60) days prior to the date that the vacancy occurred and shall have been a registered Republican voter in the most recent general election.
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The Senate District Committee shall convene, conduct interviews, and nominate a list of three (3) candidates to send to the Governor within fifteen (15) days of the vacancy occurring.
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The State Party Chairman, or their designee, shall facilitate the process of conducting interviews and filling such office by whatever means necessary, which shall include but is not limited to, facilitating and conducting the interviews, calling special meetings of the District Vacancy Committee, and certifying the results of such committee meetings to the Governor. The State Chairman shall take care to see that each candidate nominated by the Republican Party for such office is constitutionally eligible.
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The State Chairman and State Party Staff shall, in consultation with the elected Chair of the District Vacancy Committee, prepare a list of questions that will be asked of candidates during their interview process. The State Chairman and State Party Staff shall ensure that there is adequate public notice of such vacancy and that there are at least Seventy-two (72) hours between the time that the notice is posted publicly and the time that the application period closes.
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The nomination of such candidates for a vacancy shall occur in the following manner:
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If there are three (3) candidates who have applied, the Vacancy Committee need not convene, unless called to do so by the State Chair, the District Vacancy Chair, or upon the application of forty percent (40%) of the members of the District Vacancy Committee. In such cases, should there be only three candidates, and the committee is not called, the State Chairman shall certify those three names to the Governor and shall provide a copy to the Secretary of State.
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If there are less than three (3) candidates, the Vacancy District Committee shall convene and endeavor to fill the remaining slots from a list of eligible registered Republicans who are constitutionally eligible to hold such office and are registered to vote in and reside in the District from which the vacancy arises.
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If there are more than three (3) candidates who apply for such office, interviews will be conducted in person at a location in the District, unless such district is within twenty-five (25) miles of the State Party Headquarters, at which point the interviews shall be conducted at State Party Headquarters. All interviews will be uniform and no candidate shall be asked different questions, questioned by individual committee members, or be given more or less time. Upon the conclusion of the interviews, the District Vacancy Committee shall deliberate and choose three candidates to submit to the Governor. The District Vacancy Committee shall vote by blank ballot and no name shall be placed on the list submitted to the Governor unless they receive a majority of votes cast. The members of the District Vacancy Committee shall vote for up to three candidates on the first round of balloting. If any candidate receives a majority of votes cast, that candidate shall be nominated and their name shall be removed from the next round of voting. In succeeding rounds of balloting, the committee members shall only be allowed to vote for the number of slots left to nominate. In each succeeding round of balloting, the candidate receiving the fewest votes shall be eliminated for the next round of balloting, unless there are multiple candidates who receive the fewest amounts of votes. This process shall continue indefinitely until a slate of three (3) candidates is nominated.
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Upon the conclusion of the committee interviews and action, the State Chairman, District Vacancy Committee Chairman (or Vice Chair in the absence of the Chair), and District Vacancy Committee Secretary shall certify, by letter on State Party letterhead, the list of three (3) names for such vacancy. This letter shall be filed by the State Party Staff within twenty-four (24) hours of the letter being signed by all three officers. All letters and certification papers shall be filed with the Governor of West Virginia and the West Virginia Secretary of State.
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In any case where there is no Senate Vacancy Committee due to the district being wholly within one county, the County Chair shall appoint a subcommittee which shall act as the vacancy committee and the process of such committee be facilitated by the County Chair and State Chair. In such case, the names of the three (3) nominated candidates shall be certified by the County Chair, County Secretary, and State Chair.
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Statutory Obligations
ARTICLE XVI of the West Virginia State Republican Executive Committee Bylaws, as adopted February 8, 2020, summarizes the connection with state law, per WVC § 3-5-19:
In any case where the Republican nominee for any office shall become ineligible to appear on the ballot or continue to be the Republican nominee due to death, disqualification, or withdrawal, in any situation under State Law, the Executive Committee of jurisdiction shall fill the vacancy as provided by West Virginia Code § 3-5-19. That is, statewide positions will be filled by the Executive Committee, a Congressional position will be filled by the Congressional District Committee, a State Senate position will be filled by the State Senate District Committee, a House of Delegates position will be filled by the Delegate District Committee, and County offices or positions whose geographic positions are wholly within one county but have no other executive committee of jurisdiction shall be filled by the County Executive Committee. After any nominating meeting held pursuant to this Article, the State Chairman shall certify the nominee so chosen, to the Secretary of State and/or other applicable authority.
Monongalia County District Map
Learn more about your new legislative districts via the County Clerk map, or at the WV Legislature Redistricting webpage.
Precinct 16 Demographics
Here are a few recent statistics about Morgantown’s Precinct 16, which as of 2022 has 966 voters, and an average voter age of 43 years and 2 months.
Precinct 16 Serves Voters in Morgantown’s Wiles Hill-Highland Park Neighborhood
Populations change, bounds change. Change is a common currency. It’s often said that elections have consequences, and we hold the same to be true for consolidations.
Morgantown’s Third Ward was once the Fourth Ward, which is why your property tax maps may be confusing; it’s also the reason our local community center, the former Wiles Hill School, is officially known as the Fourth Ward School.
The Wiles Hill Community Center where Precinct 16 voters cast our ballots is a byproduct of change in the form school consolidation, and the Wiles Hill-Highland Park neighborhood changed when Monongalia County Schools closed the building and moved classes (and students) to Suncrest and North elementary schools.
After the school closed, it took nearly a decade to rebuild a sense of community and place among neighbors. And, in 2014, the community faced another change that could have again gutted our community.
In 2014, as a result of WV HB 4473–relating to establishing voting precincts and changing the composition of standard receiving boards–local county clerks and county commissions were enabled to consolidate precincts.
Whereas the old law set minimums and maximums stating, “Each precinct within any urban center shall contain not less than three hundred nor more than one thousand five hundred registered voters,” the new law stated, “any precincts with polling places that are within a one mile radius of each other on or after July 1, 2014, may be consolidated, at the discretion of the county clerk and county commission, into one or more new precincts that contain not more than three thousand registered voters in any urban center, etc.”
A change was proposed by the Monongalia County Clerk to consolidate Precinct 16. Confronted with the threat and armed with knowledge, Wes Nugent, who at the time was elected as City Councilor from Morgantown’s Third Ward, led an effort to alert neighbors and encourage neighborhood and civic leaders petition county government officials to stop the proposed consolidation based on a geographic hardship that would have been created for voters to walk (or try to use public transit) to easily reach their polling place to cast ballots.
With help from neighbors, who included Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, a unified front was presented and we succeeded to preserve our precinct and keep our local polling place. The Monongalia County Commission amended the 2014 precinct consolidation order to exclude Precinct 16.
Take time to read about HB 4473, listed by LegiScan as a “Moderate Partisan Bill,” and note the lead sponsor, the same person who now asks for your vote in Senate District 13. TLDR: Yes, the lead sponsor of HB 4473 was none other than Barbara Fleischauer.
Wes Nugent supports Mike Oliverio for WV Senate District 13 in the November 8, 2022 general election for this reason and others. We need leadership in Charleston, like Mike Oliverio, who will more broadly consider the real impact of legislation and minimize partisanship.
Contact Wes Nugent, Monongalia County Republican Executive Committee Member
When I ran as District 1 Monongalia County Republican Executive Committee member, my intention was clear and straightforward:
I want to continue helping others with my unique knowledge, skills, and abilities, to better my community and country.
Citizen issues and ideas have always fueled my passion to serve our city and community.
If you have issues or ideas for Precinct 16, or that relate to the Monongalia County Republican Executive Committee, let me know. We may be able to work on something together in the future.
Comments & Questions
Want more information about Precinct 16 or the Wiles Hill-Highland Park neighborhood? Do you have observations to share or unanswered conundrums?
Events & Activities
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Issues & Ideas
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Request for Help
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Get Involved
Precinct 16 is a kind of “final frontier.” By West Virginia standards, we’re an urban precinct. Our citizens, and our issues, reflect more of what we can expect for our state long-term as West Virginia regrows our population base. It’s important for Republicans to want to compete and win in urban areas like Morgantown’s Precinct 16 to continue to remain competitive elsewhere in West Virginia.
Monongalia County Republican Executive Committee meetings are open to all voters officially registered with the Republican party. Meetings are typically held monthly on the second Tuesday of the month.