Warren Randolph McGraw (May 10, 1939 – June 14, 2023) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

and brother of former West Virginia Attorney General

Darrell McGraw Darrell Vivian McGraw Jr. (November 8, 1936 – December 7, 2024) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. He was the brother of former West Virginia State Supreme Court Justice and state Senate President Warren McGraw. He was elect ...

Personal life

Warren McGraw was born in

Wyoming County, West Virginia Wyoming County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,382. Its county seat is Pineville. The county was created in 1850 from Logan County and named for the Lenape word meaning "large pl ...

, United States, on May 10, 1939. After graduating from the Wyoming County public school system, McGraw attended Morris Harvey College (now the

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

) where he earned his ''Artium Baccalaureus'' in 1960. McGraw then attended

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 ...

Graduate School and later

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

law school where he earned his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1963. In 1961, McGraw married Peggy Shufflebarger. They had three children and six grandchildren. McGraw died on June 14, 2023, at the age of 84.

Political career

McGraw began his political career in 1968 when he was elected 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 ...

, serving there until 1972. He was then elected to 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 ...

in 1972, serving three consecutive terms. During his third term, McGraw was then elected (twice) 44th Senate President. (Lt. Governor) In 1984, he decided to run for governor and in the Democratic primary challenged then-Speaker of the House Clyde M. See, State Attorney General Chauncey Browning, and State Highway Commissioner Dusty Rhodes. McGraw edged out Browning for second place but lost the primary to See. After his service in the West Virginia Legislature, McGraw returned to Wyoming County to practice law where he was elected to the Board of Education in 1986 and later as

Prosecuting Attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

in 1996. In 1998 McGraw successfully campaigned for an unexpired six-year term in the

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's State court (United States), state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Char ...

. Although he was elected for a term ending in the year 2004, he filed as a candidate in the year 2000 for the term ending in 2012. Charleston lawyer George Carenbauer, a former state Democratic chairman, challenged the filing in the state Supreme Court, and in a 4-1 decision, the Court held that McGraw was ineligible to run for a 12-year term in the year 2000 when he was already a member of the Court until the year 2004, and referred to his action as "audacious". McGraw was elected by his peers on the Court as the Chief Justice during the 2001 term. McGraw was defeated for reelection by Brent Benjamin in 2004. Afterwards, McGraw filed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against Charleston attorney George Carenbauer and West Virginia Media Holdings over a campaign ad which McGraw claimed portrayed his speech during the 2004

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

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

rally in Racine, West Virginia in an unfair light. The speech, sometimes referred to as the "Scream at Racine" or the "Scream from Racine", was featured in several campaign ads run by both the West Virginia Republican Party and the Benjamin campaign. However, the suit was dismissed in July 2005. In 2008 and 2016 McGraw successfully ran for a

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

post which he won both times and received over 80 percent of the vote.

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGraw, Warren 1939 births 2023 deaths County prosecuting attorneys in West Virginia Democratic Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates People from Wyoming County, West Virginia School board members in West Virginia Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia University of Charleston alumni Wake Forest University School of Law alumni West Virginia circuit court judges West Virginia lawyers Democratic Party West Virginia state senators West Virginia University alumni Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Presidents of the West Virginia Senate 21st-century West Virginia politicians 20th-century members of the West Virginia Legislature