Joshua Kurt Higginbotham (born July 23, 1996) is an American politician and author. He served in the

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

as a Republican, representing the 13th district, from 2016 until November 2021.

Early life and education

Higginbotham is the son of Kurt and Trina Higginbotham. He graduated from

Poca High School Poca High School, originally named "Pocatalico District High School", is a high school in Poca, West Virginia, United States. It serves the easternmost portion of Putnam County and is a part of the Putnam County Schools Putnam County ...

in 2014 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the

University of Charleston The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 a ...

in 2017.

Career

Higginbotham was elected to the House of Delegates for the 13th district in 2016. At the time of his taking office, he was 20 years old, the youngest member of the House. In 2018, Higginbotham was among delegates that visited

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

to promote investment in West Virginia. In December 2018, he was named an assistant majority whip by House Speaker Roger Hanshaw. In 2021, Higginbotham was the lead Republican sponsor of the Fairness Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in West Virginia’s Human Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act. Higginbotham was also the only Republican in the House to vote against a bill that forces transgender students to play on sports teams according to the sex they are assigned at birth, as opposed to their gender identity. Later that year, Higginbotham attended the Spirit of Lincoln Gala honoring former First Lady

Melania Trump Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president D ...

, hosted by the

Log Cabin Republicans The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is an organization within the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party which advocates for equal rights for LGBT in the United States, LGBT+ Americans. History Log Cabin Republicans was founded in 1977 ...

. He also visited the

America First Policy Institute The America First Policies Institute (AFPI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) think tank that was founded in 2021 to promote former U.S. President Donald Trump's public policy agenda. The organization was founded by Brooke Rollins, who serves as preside ...

, led by former Trump administration officials. As of September 2021, Higginbotham has been the lead sponsor of 49 different bills in the Legislature. In September 2021, Higginbotham announced he will run for 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 Democratic Party held a supermajority in the ...

in the 2022 elections for a seat in the

Kanawha Valley The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the sta ...

. In December 2021, Higginbotham was endorsed by former

EPA administrator The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other enviro ...

and Trump cabinet member Andrew Wheeler. He is also a member of the

American Legislative Exchange Council The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States ...

, a conservative lobbying group.

Personal life

Higginbotham is a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

. In 2014, at the age of 18, Higginbotham released ''Ecclesiastes'', a fictionalized version of the Bible book of the same name, on eLectio Publishing. In June 2021, Higginbotham made statewide and national news when he publicly came out as gay, becoming the first openly gay Republican lawmaker in West Virginia.

References

West Virginia Republicans Living people 1996 births 21st-century American politicians Gay politicians LGBT state legislators in West Virginia American gay writers American Presbyterians LGBT conservatism in the United States {{WestVirginia-politician-stub