Stephen Skinner is an American politician who formerly 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 with ...

. A member of the

West Virginia Democratic Party The West Virginia Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of West Virginia. History The state of West Virginia granted itself statehood after its people, through a state constitutional convention, became a fr ...

, he represented the 67th District in the legislature."5 things about W.Va. Legislature election results"

WTRF-TV WTRF-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Wheeling, West Virginia, United States, serving the Wheeling, West Virginia–Steubenville, Ohio market as an affiliate of CBS, MyNetworkTV, and ABC. The station is owned by Nexstar Me ...

, November 7, 2012. He was first elected in the 2012 state elections. Skinner won re-election to the House of Delegates in 2014 by defeating Republican challenger and future Senator

Patricia Rucker Patricia Rucker (born Patricia Elena Puertas on April 27, 1974 in Caracas) is a Republican member of the West Virginia Senate, representing the 16th district since January 11, 2017. Rucker served as the chairwoman of the Senate Education Commi ...

. Skinner is a native of the

Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia The Eastern Panhandle is the eastern of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the Northern Panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources ...

. His parents met at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. Skinner attended

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

as an undergraduate before graduating from

West Virginia University College of Law The West Virginia University College of Law is the professional school for the study of law at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. The law school was established in 1878 as the first professional school in the s ...

. He is the first openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

candidate ever elected to the state legislature in West Virginia. Prior to his election to the legislature, Skinner was a founder of the LGBT advocacy group Fairness West Virginia. In 2015, two men were indicted by a

Berkeley County, West Virginia Berkeley County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Hagerstown- Martinsburg, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the co ...

grand jury on charges that they plotted to kill Skinner by burning down his house. In the 2016 election, Skinner ran for the 16th district seat in 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 t ...

that was vacated by

Herb Snyder Herbert S. Snyder (born September 7, 1953 in Winchester, Virginia) is a former Democratic member of the West Virginia Senate representing District 16. Snyder served as a Jefferson County Commissioner from 1990 to 1996, when he was elected to h ...

. Skinner was defeated in the election by Republican candidate

. Skinner is a trial lawyer and a partner with his brother a
Skinner Law Firm.
Skinner represents counties and municipalities in the national opioid litigation. He also filed a lawsuit against manufacturers of "

forever chemicals Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic Organofluorine chemistry, organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. An early definition, from 2011, required that they contain at l ...

" also known as

PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. An early definition, from 2011, required that they contain at least one perfluoroalkyl mo ...

for contaminated water in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

References

External links

Stephen Skinner
Democratic Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates LGBT state legislators in West Virginia Gay politicians People from Jefferson County, West Virginia Living people West Virginia Wesleyan College alumni West Virginia University College of Law alumni 21st-century American politicians Year of birth missing (living people) {{WestVirginia-politician-stub