History of WVGOP
Although the national Republican party emerged in 1854, our ideals and values have developed over centuries. Henry II in the 1180s enacted the Assize of Arms, not just requesting but requiring that all good citizens carry arms for the protection of their nation. Alone among monarchs in Europe, Henry II trusted rather than feared his people. The 1600s saw a series of British kings attempt, but fail to establish tyranny. When the last of them, James II, was overthrown, British leaders recognized that an armed population could not only defend against invasion, but could also protect its freedom at home as well. British political philosophers in the 1600s speculated on the reasons for the existence of government. Some argued that government existed to protect life while others reasoned its primary role lay in protecting property. These ideas end up being primary themes in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, two of our most important expressions of freedom.
The Declaration of Independence expresses that men and women have the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (originally stated as property.) Republicans recognize, as did the Founding Fathers, that rights come not from the government, but from God as part of His design for the natural world. The stated right to life reflects that Republicans cherish the unborn. Rights to liberty and property are also recognized as essential in a world constantly trying to restrict freedom and tax the rewards of our labor.
By the 1850s those that love liberty and sought to expand economic sought to create a movement that could challenge the power of the Democratic Party. Many Democrats since the founding of the Constitution had reasonably argued about state versus federal power. The 1850s saw the extremist fringe of their party growing in stature. It sought to declare that the enslavement of blacks was a positive good. Republicans from the party’s very beginnings placed a high value on human liberty and made abolition of slavery one of its most valued principles.
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Leadership
Chairman Conrad G. Lucas II -- Biography
Conrad Lucas was born in Huntington and raised in Lincoln and Morgan Counties. His family history in West Virginia goes back to the coalfields of the 1790s. He is a product of West Virginia public schools but also holds a bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from Vanderbilt, a master’s from Harvard, a law degree from Tulane and a certificate in international law from the Sorbonne in Paris...
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Our Staff
Jordan Burgess
Executive Director
(304) 768-0493
jordan.burgess@wvgop.org
Drew Constable
Political Director
(304) 768-0493
Drew@wvgop.org Read more.
By-Laws
Section 1. "The members of the Committee elected at the May primary for the year 1978, together with members of the Committee heretofore or hereafter elected to fill any vacancies shall constitute the membership of the Committee until their successors are appointed and qualify. At each June primary, beginning with the year 1980 and at the June primary election in the year 1982 each Senatorial District shall elect two male and two female members of the Republican State Executive Committee, not more than two of whom shall be residents of the same county, except in counties wherein one county constitutes an entire Senatorial District. Such members so elected shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended. in Senatorial Districts containing two or more counties, not more than two such elected committee members shall be residents of the same county. The Committee, so elected from the Senatorial Districts, shall, at its organization meeting, appoint three additional members of such Committee from the State at-large and one additional member from each Congressional District."
Section 2. The duties of the members include regularly attending meetings of the State Executive Committee.
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