Nicholas Riley Keaton (born August 9, 1997) is an American politician who served as a Delegate to 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 ...

from 2020 to 2023. Keaton is a Republican.

Early life, education, and career

Keaton was born in

Spencer, West Virginia Spencer is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, West Virginia, Roane County, West Virginia, United States. Originally known as "California," Spencer was chartered in 1858, and named after Spencer Roane (1762–1822), a distinguished jur ...

, to Tony and Tracey Keaton. He studied for his Bachelor of Economics degree at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

. As a teenager, Keaton was politically active. Before assuming office, Keaton was employed as the president of a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

Elections

2016

In his first primary, Keaton narrowly lost to incumbent Rick Atkinson in a three-way race, receiving 37.36% of the vote and missing the nomination by only 28 votes.

2020

In the 2020 primary, Keaton defeated Atkinson with 52.01% of the vote to win the nomination. In the general election, Keaton defeated Democrat Mark Pauley with 66.46% of the vote.

2022

In 2022, Keaton's district changed following the states redistricting. He was once again up against Rick Atkinson in the primary. On May 10, 2022, he went on to win the primary with 56% of the vote to Atkinson's 44%. In the general election, Keaton defeated Democrat Chuck Conner with 30.1% of the vote.

Tenure

Committee assignments

*Banking and Insurance *Judiciary *Small Business and Economic Development *Technology & Infrastructure Keaton is an assistant majority whip in the House of Delegates. Keaton has an "A" rating from the

NRA Political Victory Fund The Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) is the political action committee (PAC) of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). Founded in 1976, the Fund endorses political candidates on behalf of the NRA and contributes money to those candidate's ...

and a 100% rating from the West Virginia Citizens Defense League, a regional

gun rights The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, as well as ...

organization.

DC statehood

With many of his fellow Delegates, Keaton signed onto a resolution requesting West Virginia Senators and Congresspeople to oppose bills that would allow statehood for the District of Columbia.

Education

Keaton opposed Senate Bill 680, a bill that would make it harder for school staff to be given raises, but the bill passed the House of Delegates despite some Republican opposition.

Freedom of speech

Keaton was the lead sponsor of House Bill 2595, a bill that would prohibit so-called "divisive concepts" from being taught in West Virginia schools or promoted in other state-funded agencies. It targeted criticisms of American society, eliminating language that would refer to the US as a "fundamentally racist or sexist" country.

Worker's rights

Keaton voted for SB 11, a bill that would make it more difficult for employees to

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

Resignation

On October 12, 2023, Keaton formally resigned from his position in the West Virginia House of Delegates, stating on his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

that he has accepted a legislative role with the

Jim Justice James Conley Justice II (born April 27, 1951) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from West Virginia. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2017 to 2025 as the 36th gover ...

Administration’s Department of Human Services.

Personal life

Keaton is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. On October 8, 2022, Keaton married Sadie Shields at the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Charleston.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keaton, Riley 1997 births Living people Republican Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates Catholic politicians from West Virginia People from Spencer, West Virginia 21st-century members of the West Virginia Legislature