West Virginia House of Delegates Bill 301 is now on its way to the Senate.
The bill, approved in the House by 79 votes, creates 100 single-member districts, including District 46, 47 and 48 all of which will represent a portion of Greenbrier County residents.
As the bill made its way through the House, it was met with a fair share of pushback. Most notably by a concerned citizen who affixed a Confederate flag to the podium inside the West Virginia House of Delegates chamber at the state capitol.
Howard Swint spoke during a public hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 13, just hours before the House passed the bill, against what he believed to be “blatant gerrymandering” in the redistricting process in regards to proposed Delegate District 48.
In its current form, District 48 would include a small portion of northern Greenbrier County located down the Route 20 corridor to Quinwood. The largest majority of residents in this proposed district would include those in Webster and Nicholas counties. However, that wasn’t always the case.
Initially, House Redistricting Committee members had drawn a district that would have included a portion of Pocahontas County, but when it came to their attention that the section of Pocahontas County to be included in the district houses the headquarters of the National Alliance, a white supremacist political organization, they moved to redraw the district.
The reason for this redrawing, according to officials, is that incumbent Caleb Hanna (R-Nicholas, 44), who is black, would have faced running a campaign in the original proposed district. It was noted that this district change needed to be made as a special consideration.
According to Swint, this redrawing of the district did not take into account population, instead it was redrawn to “protect” Hanna, and “protect [the] supermajority political base.”
“What you are doing in Pocahontas County, in my opinion, is blatant gerrymandering by its very definition–perhaps one of the most egregious examples in the nation’s history,” Swint stated.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gerrymandering as “the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections.”
Swint went on to say that he believes legislators are being “deferential” and “colluding” with the National Alliance.
“They are hardcore, triple X, white supremacists and neo-nazis who spew hate internationally,” Swint said of the group.
“Condemn these people!” Swint exclaimed. “When you take them into account with your redistricting efforts, rather than condemn them, you are mollifying them and you are being deferential. Your silence is deafening. Silence is the language of complicity.”
Swint then displayed the Confederate Flag, stating that his “stage craft foolishness” is an attempt to bring in national media outlets and bring a greater awareness of the issue to more people, including awareness of House Bill 2174 the “West Virginia Monument and Memorial Protection Act of 2021,” which would have prevented the “the relocation, removal, alteration, renaming, rededication, or other disturbance of any statue, monument, memorial, nameplate, or plaque which is located on public property.” The Act would have included Confederate monuments. The bill didn’t make it out of the House Judiciary Committee during the regular session.
Swint’s display did attract media attention. It also captured the attention of Evan Hansen (D-Monongalia-51).
Hansen stated during the House of Delegates session “I believe the overwhelming majority of West Virginians and the overwhelming majority of people in this legislature don’t support that type of action and don’t support racism or things like that, despite the fact that the symbol was put out on the House floor.”
He then discussed the shift in district boundaries and noted that “it’s kind of a bad look for the state of West Virginia to appear, to at least appear, to be making decisions on representation based on the race of the incumbent in those districts.”
Hansen then asked Republican Todd Longanace, who currently represents District 42, if he would answer some questions.
Longanacre responded “I don’t own a Confederate flag at all . . . I am interested in what he has to say.”
When asked if the National Alliance compound would be located in his proposed district, Longanacre responded “No.” He added that he did not know which district that compound would be located in, but he believes he will represent Delegate District 47.
Longanacre added that he didn’t understand where Hansen was going with his questioning, but he noted that he supported the bill, and it shouldn’t come down to race.
The West Virginia Senate must now discuss the bill before passage. If passed by the Senate, the bill must be placed before Gov. Jim Justice for passage.
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