William David Hamilton (born July 14, 1950) is an American politician. He is a member of the

West Virginia Senate The West Virginia Senate is the upper house of the West Virginia Legislature. There are seventeen senatorial districts. Each district has two senators who serve staggered four-year terms. Although the West Virginia Democratic Party, Democratic P ...

from the 11th district. He was a member of the

West Virginia House of Delegates The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature in West Virginia. Only three states—Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia—refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates. Organization Regular se ...

representing District 45 from January 12, 2013 to December 1, 2018. Hamilton served consecutively from January 2003 until January 2013 in the District 39 seat.

Personal life

Hamilton graduated from

Buckhannon-Upshur High School Buckhannon-Upshur High School (B-UHS) is a high school located in Upshur County, West Virginia, United States. It enrolls approximately 1,300 students. It is located at 270 B-U Drive, about two miles south of Buckhannon city limits. The school ...

and attended Potomac State College. He formerly worked as an insurance agent at Loudin Insurance Agency.

Political career

In 2000, Hamilton ran in the Republican primary for the 39th district of the

. He was defeated by the incumbent Dale F. Riggs. In 2002, Hamilton ran against Riggs again. He was endorsed by the state chapters of the

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing work ...

and the

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

, and won with 55% of the vote. Hamilton was unopposed in the general election. In 2018, Hamilton challenged Robert L. Karnes for his seat in the

. Karnes opposed unions, supported

Right-to-work laws In the context of labor law in the United States, the term right-to-work laws refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions. Such agreements can be incorporated into union contracts to require ...

, and stated that teachers' strike earlier in the year " eldkids hostage". Hamilton defeated Karnes in the primary, with much of his campaign contributions coming from organized labor.

Elections

* 2012 Redistricted to District 45, and with District 45 incumbent

Larry Williams Lawrence Eugene Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist from New Orleans. He is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to ...

redistricted to District 52, Hamilton was unopposed for both the May 8, 2012 Republican Primary, winning with 2,490 votes, and the November 6, 2012 General election, winning with 5,669 votes. * 2000 Hamilton challenged District 39 incumbent Representative Dale Riggs in the 2000 Republican Primary but lost to Representative Riggs, who was re-elected in the November 7, 2000 General election. * 2002 Hamilton challenged Representative Riggs again in the 2002 Republican Primary and won, and was unopposed for the November 5, 2002 General election. * 2004 Hamilton was unopposed for the 2004 Republican Primary and won the November 2, 2004 General election against Democratic nominee Teresa Khan. * 2006 Hamilton was unopposed for the 2006 Republican Primary and won the November 7, 2006 General election against Democratic nominee Ryan Thorn. * 2008 Hamilton was challenged in the May 13, 2008 Republican Primary but won with 2,233 votes (80.9%), and was unopposed for the November 4, 2008 General election, winning with 6,285 votes. * 2010 Hamilton was challenged in the three-way May 11, 2010 Republican Primary but won with 1,386 votes (62.9%), and was unopposed for the November 2, 2010 General election, winning with 4,765 votes.

References

External links

Official page
at the

West Virginia Legislature The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI ...

*
William Hamilton
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Bill Hamilton
at the National Institute on Money in State Politics 1950 births Living people Republican Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates People from Buckhannon, West Virginia Potomac State College alumni Republican Party West Virginia state senators 21st-century members of the West Virginia Legislature {{WestVirginia-politician-stub