McGraw seeking sixth term, two SC spots open

CHARLESTON – Two spots on the state Supreme Court are up for grabs Tuesday, while Republican challenger Patrick Morrisey attempts to unseat longtime state Attorney General Darrell McGraw.

Morrisey has attacked McGraw this year, claiming McGraw has been spending taxpayer money to promote his own office. McGraw’s campaign, meanwhile, said Morrisey - who has run for office while living in New Jersey and works for a Washington, D.C., law firm - doesn’t understand what West Virginians want.

McGraw has been attorney general since 1992. His last two re-election campaigns were two of the closest statewide races in West Virginia history, defeating both Hiram Lewis in 2004 and Dan Greear in 2008 by less than one percent of the vote.

In the Supreme Court race, four candidates are vying for two spots. One of them is current Justice Robin Davis, who was appointed in 1996 by then-Gov. Gaston Caperton.

In 2000, she won election to a full 12-year term and has served five one-year terms as chief justice. She is the most tenured justice on the court.

Also on the ballot are Democrat Tish Chafin, an attorney and wife of state Sen. Truman Chafin. She is the former president of the State Bar.

Republicans on the ballot are John Yoder, a circuit court judge from the Eastern Panhandle who earned 49.2 percent of the 2010 vote when he lost to Justice Thomas McHugh, and Allen Loughry, a state Supreme Court law clerk.