CHARLESTON — Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, last Tuesday officially announced his campaign for West Virginia attorney general.
Stuart made the announcement during a gathering at the Kanawha County Voters’ Registration in Charleston.
“With tremendous humility and a deep sense of purpose, I announce my candidacy for attorney general of the great state of West Virginia,” Stuart said. “I am the right person at the right time with the right experience and background to be the next attorney general. I have a big record of taking on powerful forces and winning at the highest levels. I am a proven conservative with a proven record and built to be a strong attorney general.”
Stuart said he will have many of the same priorities as when he served as a U.S. attorney, including the opioid epidemic, protecting law enforcement and veterans, federal and regulatory overreach, corruption, Medicaid and consumer fraud, elder abuse, domestic violence and protecting children.
“I carry in my pocket each day a wallet filled with the beautiful faces of victims of the opiate crisis. It’s those faces that re-inspire me each day. It’s those pictures that compelled me to run for attorney general. Those pictures haunt me in the dark of night and they remind me of the profound importance of our work,” Stuart said.
Former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said he endorses Stuart.
“We live in a dangerous world where traditional American values and American jobs are under assault each and every day,” Whitaker said. “Mike’s a natural leader, a fighter and a strong conservative who will aggressively defend our families, coal, natural gas, American energy, the Second Amendment, the unborn, and ferociously protect the values of the people of West Virginia.”
Stuart indicated he would run last month after Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced intentions to run for governor. Stuart is currently serving his first term as a state senator, representing the 7th District.
Stuart was the state co-chair of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He was later nominated by Trump for U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, with the support of Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Stuart served as U.S. attorney in the Southern District of West Virginia from 2018 to 2021. He was involved in the prosecution of two West Virginia Supreme Court justices, as well as prosecutions and raids related to the opioid crisis, including one raid that resulted in 100 arrests from Huntington to Detroit, according to his campaign bio.
Stuart previously worked as a lawyer for the firm Steptoe & Johnson and, in 2014, chaired the West Virginia Presidential Debate Commission. From 2010 to 2012, he served as chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party.
Stuart is the second state senator to announce a campaign for Attorney General. Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, announced last month that he also will be seeking the office.
Weld released a statement Tuesday regarding Stuart’s campaign announcement.
“I welcome any candidate that joins the race and look forward to a campaign that is focused on the issues, because that’s what West Virginians deserve, an Attorney General who understands their concerns about Washington, D.C.’s outrageous attempts to dictate our state’s future to us,” Weld said.
Weld has served two four-year terms as a state senator in the 1st District, representing Brooke, Hancock, Ohio and part of Marshall County. In addition to serving as majority whip, he is vice chairman of the judiciary committee and chairman of the military committee. He also served one term as a member of the House of Delegates.
Weld is a former U.S. Air Force officer, joining the Air Force Reserve in 2005 and spending several years on active duty with the U.S. Intelligence Community and a deployment to Afghanistan. Throughout 2010 and 2011, he served as the staff intelligence officer to a joint Army-Air Force team in the Zabul Province of southeastern Afghanistan.
The West Virginia Democratic Party also responded to Stuart’s announcement on Tuesday, noting that he has completed only 11% of his term as a state senator.
“The paint on Mike Stuart’s office isn’t even dry yet and he’s already announced that he’s running for another office,” Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin said. “He should concentrate on doing the job he was elected to do before trying for a new one.”
Pushkin said, during the legislative session, Stuart tried unsuccessfully to thwart a bill outlawing child marriage and, as U.S. attorney, single-handedly delayed implementation of the state’s medical cannabis law, costing millions in revenue and denying care to suffering patients around the state.
