Mark Allen Hunt (born January 23, 1960 in Charleston, West Virginia) is an American politician who is a Republican member of the West Virginia Senate, representing the 8th district. From 2012 to 2014, Hunt was a Democratic member of 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 with ...

representing District 36 from 2012 to 2014. Hunt served consecutively from January 2009 until January 2013, and non-consecutively from January 1995 until January 2001 and from January 2005 until January 2007 in District 30 and District 31 seats. Hunt was a candidate for

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 t ...

in 2000 and a candidate for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for

West Virginia's 2nd congressional district West Virginia's 2nd congressional district currently stretches from the Ohio River border with Ohio to the Potomac River border with Maryland and the border with Virginia. It includes the capital city of Charleston and the rapidly growing resi ...

in 2006.

Education

Hunt earned his BA 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 as ...

, his MA from

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: ...

, and his JD from the

David A. Clarke School of Law The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC Law) is the law school of the University of the District of Columbia, a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It is named after David A. ...

at the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...

Elections

*2012 Redistricted to District 36 with fellow District 30 incumbent Representatives Nancy Guthrie and

Danny Wells Jack Westelman (April 7, 1941 – November 28, 2013), known as Danny Wells, was a Canadian actor. He was best known for his role as Charlie, the bartender on ''The Jeffersons'', as well as his role as Luigi in the live-action/animated series '' ...

, Hunt placed second in the seven-way May 8, 2012 Democratic Primary with 2,834 votes (20.4%), and placed first in the six-way three-position November 6, 2012 General election with 9,325 votes (19.7%) ahead of Representatives Wells (D) and Guthrie (D) and

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominees Robin Holstein, Stevie Thaxton, and Steve Sweeney. *1994 Hunt was initially elected in the District 31 Democratic Primary and the November 8, 1994 General election, and re-elected in the November 5, 1996 General election. *1998 Hunt was challenged in the three-way 1998 Democratic Primary, but won, and won the November 3, 1998 General election against Libertarian candidate John Sturgeon. *2000 To challenge Senate District 8 incumbent Republican Senator Vic Sprouse, Hunt ran in the 2000 Democratic Primary and won, but lost the November 7, 2000 General election to Senator Sprouse, who held the seat from 1997 until 2009. *2004 April 30 his third son Jackie Lee Hunt was born. When District 30 Representative Foster ran for

and left a district seat open, Hunt placed in the fourteen-way 2004 Democratic Primary and was elected in the fourteen-way seven-position November 2, 2004 General election which re-elected incumbents Jon Amores (D), Bonnie Brown (D), and Bobbie Hatfield (D), and nominees Corey Palumbo (D), Sharon Spencer (D), Danny Wells (D), and unseated Representative Calvert (R). *2006 To challenge West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District incumbent Republican United States Representative

Shelley Moore Capito Shelley Wellons Moore Capito ( ; born November 26, 1953) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the junior United States senator from West Virginia since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Capito served as the U.S. rep ...

, Hunt ran in the 2006 Democratic Primary but lost to

Mike Callaghan Mike Callaghan (born March 31, 1963) is a former Assistant United States Attorney and a politician. In 2006, he was the Democratic nominee for West Virginia's 2nd congressional district. He unsuccessfully challenged Republican incumbent Shelley ...

; Congresswoman Capito was re-elected in the November 7, 2006 General election. *2008 When Representative Palumbo ran for

and Representative Amores retired, leaving two district seats open, Hunt placed fifth in the seventeen-way May 13, 2008 Democratic Primary with 10,512 votes (8.5%), and placed fifth in the fifteen-way seven-position November 4, 2008 General election with 21,635 votes (8.0%) behind Democratic nominee

Doug Skaff Douglas John Skaff Jr. is an American politician from the state of West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Skaff serves as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 35th district. Early life and education Ska ...

and incumbent Representatives Wells, Brown (D), and Hatfield (D), and ahead of incumbents Spencer (D) and Guthrie (D), all seven Republican nominees and

Mountain Party The Mountain Party is a political party in West Virginia, affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. It is a progressive and environmentalist party whose party platform primarily focuses on "Grassroots Democracy", "Social Justice & ...

candidate John Welbourn. *2010 Hunt placed sixth in the thirteen-way May 11, 2010 Democratic Primary with 5,158 votes (10.0%), and placed sixth in the fourteen-way seven-position November 2, 2010 General election with 17,197 votes (7.8%) behind incumbent Representative Skaff (D), Republican nominee Eric Nelson, incumbents Wells (S), Hatfield (D), and Brown (D), and ahead of and incumbent Guthrie(D), unseated Representative Spencer (D) and the remaining Republican nominees.

Involvement with Clonaid

In 2001, the FDA discovered that the equipment in Raelian-founded

Clonaid Clonaid is an American-based human cloning organization, registered as a company in the Bahamas. Founded in 1997, it has philosophical ties with the UFO religion Raëlism, which sees cloning as the first step in achieving immortality. On Decem ...

's human cloning lab in

Nitro, West Virginia Nitro is a city in Kanawha and Putnam counties in the State of West Virginia, named after a World War I era nitrocellulose plant built by the government. The population was 6,518 according to the 2021 Population estimates. History Nitro was in ...

Kolata, Gina, and Chang Kenneth
For Clonaid, a Trail of Unproven Claims
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Retrieved 11 October 2007. had been bought by Hunt, who wanted to clone his deceased 10-month-old son, Andrew. Hunt had spent $500,000 on efforts to clone his son. He enlisted Brigitte Boisselier, a French chemist and Raëlian religious leader, to run a secret cloning research lab in Nitro. Following an investigation, Hunt made an agreement with the FDA-OCI to not clone his son within the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

.For Clonaid, a Trail of Unproven Claims
''

''. Retrieved 11 October 2007.

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 o ...

Campaign site
*
Mark Hunt
at Ballotpedia
Mark Hunt
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Mark 1960 births Living people David A. Clarke School of Law alumni Marshall University alumni Democratic Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates Politicians from Charleston, West Virginia University of Charleston alumni West Virginia lawyers Democratic Party West Virginia state senators Lawyers from Charleston, West Virginia