CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The race for auditor in the November general election, the position of West Virginia’s “chief bookkeeper,” will be between a current member of the House of Delegates and a former employee in the West Virginia’s Auditor’s Office.
Based on unofficial results, MetroNews was projecting Mary Ann Claytor from Kanawha County would win the Democratic nomination for auditor out of a field of three that included Robin Righter, another former employee of the West Virginia Auditor’s Office, and Jason Pizatella, a former member of Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s Administration.
Delegate John “JB” McCuskey (R-Kanawha, 35) faced no opposition in Tuesday’s Republican primary.
McCuskey, an attorney with Steptoe & Johnson who was raised in Charleston, was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2012.
The resignation of longtime West Virginia Auditor Glen Gainer III will take effect on Saturday, May 14. He is leaving the office that has become synonymous with the “Gainer” name to take over as president and CEO of the National White Collar Crime Center in Richmond, Virginia.
Gainer’s 6th term runs through January and, thus far, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has not appointed a temporary replacement to serve until the candidate elected in November officially takes over in the New Year.
There has been speculation Tomblin was not ruling out the possibility of appointing the Democratic nominee for auditor, though both Claytor from Kanawha County and Righter from Harrison County opposed such a move.
West Virginia’s auditor has long been named “Gainer.”
Denzil Gainer, first cousin to the current auditor, was first elected in 1960 and served until his death just prior to the 1972 General Election. Republican John Gates served from 1972 until the 1976 election when Glen Gainer, Jr. was elected. He served until 1992. That was the year his son, Glen Gainer III, was elected to the first of six consecutive terms.