Competitive Primary Elections are the lifeblood of a deep red state like West Virginia. These elections provide voters a way to separate the wheat from the chaff as candidates make their case to the constituents they hope to represent. It is up to voters to closely evaluate these ideas and cast their ballot for the folks they believe best align with their values. One of the clearest messages voters sent in the 2026 Primary Election was their preference for conservative, free-market governance in the state legislature.
The election featured two very different visions of economic growth: “pro-business” versus “pro-growth.”
The “pro-business” vision tends to wrongly believe that economic growth is more like a government program that central planners can implement rather than a system that empowers free people to engage in free enterprise. This top-down view of the economy allows government to pick economic winners and losers through protectionism, government-mandated monopolies, and corporate welfare—all at the expense of taxpayers.
The contrasting “pro-growth” vision recognizes that government has no business picking winners and losers. Instead of prioritizing unelected government bureaucrats or entrenched monopolies, we need to focus on common-sense reforms to our regulatory and tax environment that make West Virginia significantly more competitive, creating the conditions for every West Virginian to thrive, not just the politically connected few.
The “pro-growth” view is held by Senate President Randy Smith and our conservative Senate caucus. As Election Night demonstrated, the vast majority of Republican primary voters agreed.
Nearly every incumbent member of our conservative state Senate team was challenged in their primary by a faction of so-called “pro-business” candidates, propped up by pro-monopoly protectionist entities like the left-leaning West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. All of our conservative incumbents won their primary contests, demonstrating that the will of the voters superseded the interests of the corporate crony class in Charleston. A strong coalition of pro-growth groups, including the Senate caucus, Governor Patrick Morrisey, and groups like Americans for Prosperity, banded together to defend and expand this free-market governing majority.
Voters have delivered Republican majorities or supermajorities for over a decade. As a result, Republican lawmakers have passed major conservative reforms every year that have met the mandate of the voters, including historic tax cuts, universal school choice, myriad regulatory reforms that cut needless red tape, and many more. Like clockwork, every election, voters have rewarded those bold policy victories by maintaining Republican majorities in the statehouse.
It is clear that our conservative governing majority must continue fighting back against the special interests in order to make West Virginia a better place to live, work, and raise a family. We eagerly look forward to engaging in the free market of ideas. West Virginians did not elect Republican supermajorities to keep the status quo or to preserve monopolies in health care, energy, and other sectors of our economy, which artificially increase the cost of living for the average person. They elected us to challenge those special interests on their behalf, making life more affordable and growing the economy for everyone. This is the operating model for our conservative Senate majority because that’s what our voters expect.
We are unafraid to call out the real harm that bad policy ideas such as protectionism and corporate cronyism have on our citizens. But we’ll never begrudge competition at the ballot box or in the halls of the statehouse because, just like in the economy, competition tends to drive innovation and improvement. And, if we fall short, we want voters to hold us to account, just as our Founding Fathers intended.
With the Primary Election behind us, and the pro-growth mandate of the voters renewed once again, it is time for conservatives across the Mountain State to unite around our shared West Virginia values, from the general election to the legislative session and beyond. There is no room for sour grapes when West Virginia still lags behind its neighboring states in far too many categories. When we disagree, we must do so respectfully, but firmly. We have tremendous work ahead of us, and we will unite with anyone willing to see that work is rapidly done.
State Senator Brian Helton (R – Fayette, 09) is the Chairman of the Health and Human Resources Committee.
