William Ramsey Laird IV (born June 3, 1952) is an American politician and a former Democratic member of 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 ...

representing

District 10 District 10 may refer to: Places *District 10 (Ho Chi Minh city), Vietnam *District 10 (Zürich), in Switzerland * District 10, an electoral district of Malta * District 10, a police district of Malta *District 10 School, a historic school in Marga ...

from 2013 until 2017. Laird served consecutively from January 2009 until January 2013 in the

District 11 District 11 can refer to: *District 11 (Ho Chi Minh city), Vietnam *District 11 (Zürich), Switzerland * District 11, an electoral district of Malta *Colorado Springs School District 11, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States *District 11 (Hu ...

seat, and served non-consecutively in 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 ...

from January 1997 until January 2001 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 ...

in a District 29 seat. Laird is the son of former

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

William Laird III William Ramsey Laird III (June 2, 1916 – January 7, 1974) was a United States senator from West Virginia. Born in Keswick, California, he was educated in the public schools. He graduated from Greenbrier Military School, King University, King C ...

Education

Laird attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

and earned his BA from Concord College (now

Concord University Concord University (Concord) is a public university in Athens, West Virginia. It was founded on February 28, 1872, when the West Virginia Legislature passed "an Act to locate a Branch State Normal School, in the town of Concord Church, in the ...

) and 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: L ...

Career

From 1989 to 1996 and 2001 to 2008, Laird was the sheriff of

Fayette County, West Virginia Fayette County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,488. Its county seat is Fayetteville. It is part of the Beckley, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area in Southern West Virginia. Histor ...

. Laird was a member of the

from 1997 to 2001 and

West Virginia State 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 ...

from 2009 to 2017. In June 2016, Laird was elected vice chair of the

West Virginia Democratic Party The West Virginia Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), 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 const ...

for a four-year term.

Elections

*2012 Redistricted to District 10, Laird was unopposed for both the May 8, 2012 Democratic Primary, winning with 11,264 votes, and the November 6, 2012 General election, winning with 26,819 votes. *1996 Laird was initially elected to a District 29 seat in the 1996 Democratic Primary and November 5, 1996 General election along with Tom Louisos (D) and John Pino (D). *1998 Laird and the incumbents were challenged in the four-way 1998 Democratic Primary, but all place, and were unopposed for the November 3, 1998 General election when they were all re-elected. *2008 When District 11 Democratic Senator Shirley Love left the Legislature and left a district seat open, Laird won the three-way May 13, 2008 Democratic Primary with 9,691 votes (44.1%), and won the three-way November 4, 2008 General election with 21,619 votes (59.6%) against

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 ...

nominee Aubry Wilson 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 James Waddell, who was elected to the

in 2010.

References

External links

Official page
at the

*
William Laird
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

William R. Laird IV
at the National Institute on Money in State Politics 1952 births Living people American University alumni Concord University alumni Marshall University alumni People from Fayetteville, West Virginia People from Montgomery, West Virginia Democratic Party West Virginia state senators 21st-century American politicians West Virginia sheriffs {{WestVirginia-politician-stub