CHARLESTON – Mike Stuart soon could be moving from the state Capitol to the nation’s capital.
Stuart, currently a Republican state Senator from Kanawha County, has been selected to serve as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Stuart also served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia during President Donald Trump’s first term. He ran for state Attorney General last year, but lost in the primary to J.B. McCuskey.
He was elected to the state Senate in 2022. He also ran Trump’s 2016 campaign in West Virginia.
“There is no family in West Virginia or the nation that is not directly impacted by the United States Department of Health & Human Services,” Stuart said in a statement. “This is an opportunity not only to do important work for the great people of West Virginia but to directly help President Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and families across our great country.”
Kennedy’s confirmation as DHHS secretary still is pending in the U.S. Senate.
“I am truly humbled by this extraordinary opportunity,” Stuart said in his release. “I fully appreciate that it comes with immense responsibility. I approach this great honor with a deep sense of purpose to support and help President Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the dedicated people of DHHS to meet the historic and exciting challenge to Make America Great Again and Healthy Again.”
Stuart plans to serve in the state Senate while doing whatever is necessary to work toward his confirmation before the U.S. Senate for the DHHS job.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) congratulated Stuart in a social media post.
“I’m glad (Trump) has nominated a West Virginian to advance his agenda at HHS,” Capito posted on X formerly Twitter. “As the agency’s lead appropriator, I look forward to the efforts we can do together.”
The DHHS oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and more.