On the same day the West Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments over who has the right to represent the district, the Republican nominee for the seat was facing calls from Democrats to withdraw and criticism from his own party’s House speaker.
It was another remarkable day for a Berkeley County House district that has been at the center of a series of political controversies since November 2024.
The Clagett Problem
Chris Clagett is the Republican nominee for House District 91. He won the May primary and holds the party’s nomination for November.
He is also, as of this week, facing calls to withdraw from the Democratic Party and criticism from Republican House Speaker Roger Hanshaw over social media posts made earlier this year.
West Virginia Watch first reported that Clagett made a series of social media posts in January 2026 that included disparaging comments about Black women and Muslims and a characterization of the Confederate flag as beautiful.
When given the opportunity to address the posts, Clagett did not deny making them. He went on the radio and, as Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin put it, owned them. Clagett said context is everything.
Pushkin gave the WV WASP a direct statement:
“Speaker Hanshaw’s response to the disgusting comments made by his party’s nominee, Chris Clagett, was downright anemic and shows a serious lack of leadership on his part, once again. It should not be controversial nor difficult to call out hate in all its forms. Clagett is unfit for office. The Speaker and the rest of his caucus should do the right thing and call on their nominee to withdraw from the race and save the people of the 91st district further embarrassment.”
— Mike Pushkin, to the WV WASP
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw addressed the posts on MetroNews Talkline on Tuesday. Part of his statement:
“All those comments, frankly, are concerning. We don’t have a place in the legislature for bigotry or hatred. I hope that if the voters of Berkeley County send Mr. Clagett to the House, that he comes with a different attitude. I’m not going to tell anybody else how to vote and choose their representatives, but I am going to say that the culture that we seek to perpetuate in the House of Delegates doesn’t condone that kind of bigotry or hatred, and we’re not going to tolerate it. If the voters of Berkeley County choose to send that attitude to the House of Delegates, it will be a lonely place.”
— Speaker Roger Hanshaw, MetroNews Talkline
Hanshaw condemned the comments but did not call for Clagett to withdraw. He said he would not tell anyone how to vote.
Pushkin, speaking to MetroNews midday Tuesday, was more direct. He described approximately 60 pages worth of posts and comments from Clagett and said the nominee had gone on the radio and confirmed they were his. “When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” Pushkin said. “That is who he is. He is unfit to serve. There’s no way that this guy could represent all the people of House District 91.”
Pushkin drew an explicit contrast between his response and Hanshaw’s. “I don’t think it should be difficult or controversial to address this type of bigotry and hate speech,” he said. “It shouldn’t be difficult for them to do. It’s quite easy.”
Clagett’s Democratic opponent in the November race is David Michael, whom Pushkin described as a former pastor.
The WASP reached out to WVGOP Chairman Josh Holstein and Speaker Hanshaw for comment. Neither has responded as of publication. This piece will be updated if they do.
The Supreme Court, Same Day
While the Clagett controversy was unfolding publicly, Pushkin was simultaneously inside the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals building for a case that has been working its way through the courts for nearly two years.
The case is Pushkin, Willingham, and the West Virginia Democratic Party versus Patrick Morrisey and Roger Hanshaw. It concerns how District 91’s seat was vacated and filled after Joseph de Soto, who won the seat in November 2024 as a Republican, switched his party affiliation to Democrat the day before his arrest on charges of making terroristic threats against other lawmakers, including Hanshaw.
The House voted in January 2025 to declare the seat vacant, but did so by majority vote rather than the two-thirds supermajority required for an expulsion under the state constitution.
Democrats argue that distinction is central to the case.
“The petitioners have never disputed that the House of Delegates didn’t have grounds for expelling him or didn’t have good reason for taking action against him,” said Robert Bastress, counsel for the Democratic Party, in Tuesday’s argument. “It was the procedures used, that it proceeded by majority vote on an exclusion, as opposed to proceeding to an expulsion procedure where he has to have a two-thirds supermajority.”
Governor Morrisey appointed Republican Ian Masters to the seat.
Democrats argued the appointment was unlawful because de Soto was a registered Democrat at the time the vacancy was declared, meaning the replacement should have come from the Democratic Party.
The Supreme Court has until the end of the fall term to hand down a decision. Justice Trump was disqualified from the case and Judge Wharton sat by temporary assignment.
Pushkin addressed the case on MetroNews. “The tactic on the part of the governor and Speaker Hanshaw and the legislature was to delay, delay, delay and now try to deny the people of that district justice,” he said. “They didn’t follow the rules when they created the vacancy, and they didn’t follow the rules when they filled the vacancy.”
The Masters Background Pushkin Raised
In discussing the Clagett situation, Pushkin raised the record of Ian Masters, the current occupant of the seat. Masters faced his own controversy in June 2025 when an Instagram account bearing his full name and linked to an organization he had led until January 2025 posted an antisemitic comment. Masters denied making the post, saying he had given his old phone to someone he was trying to help.
House Majority Leader Pat McGeehan claimed to have “definitive proof” that Masters did not write it but never publicly produced that evidence. Hanshaw’s response at the time was measured.
Pushkin called that episode an “incredibly antisemitic and white supremacist comment” and said Republicans “made up some cockamamie story about he gave his phone to a friend.” He said the failure to address the Masters situation made the current Clagett situation more notable.
The WASP is reporting the Masters episode as relevant context Pushkin raised publicly. The account of what happened is based on reporting by West Virginia Watch and WV Public Broadcasting.
What Comes Next
District 91 now has three concurrent storylines: a Supreme Court case whose outcome could affect who legitimately holds the seat, a Republican nominee facing calls to withdraw over his social media history, and a November race between that nominee and a Democratic challenger.
Hanshaw has condemned the comments without calling for Clagett’s withdrawal. So far, Holstein has been silent. Pushkin and the Democrats have called for withdrawal explicitly. Clagett has not withdrawn. He has confirmed the posts are his.
The voters of southern Berkeley County will have the final word in November. 🐝
The WV WASP is a West Virginia political news, humor, and commentary outlet. wvwasp.com | @wvwasp on X.