MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – To win the open seat in the House of Delegates 82nd District, David McCormick had to run against two opponents. The first was the Democrat on the ballot, Bill Reger-Nash. The other, was the candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, by the same name.
“That was a head-scratcher. No one saw that coming but it was a problem. We addressed it through the media and social media. There’s been record amounts of money spent in Pennsylvania on that U.S. Senate race and his name was out there daily. I had to make an unexpected effort,” McCormick explained.
The effort worked. McCormick tallied 4,640 votes to Reger-Nash’s 3,954, a difference of 686 votes.
McCormick, who was elected to his first term to the House of Delegates, wants to work with the business community and make the state more business-friendly as he begins his tenure in the House.
“A lot of the things I’ve been talking to people about have been our roads and child care. Those are two big things here in our district.”
McCormick has also been a major advocate for Cheat Lake residents who have addressed concerns related to Lake Lynn Generation and the operation of a hydroelectric project. This included a request made on a federal level to drop Cheat Lake water levels below the 868-foot threshold, which led to legal battles from members of the Cheat Lake business community. The initial request by the electric utility was terminated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in late September.