Stover will not seek re-election

Oct. 31—West Virginia Senator David "Bugs" Stover, R-Wyoming, will complete the 14 months left in his current term, but he will not seek re-election.

Stover said Tuesday he'd come to the difficult decision only two days prior after talking with his family.

The beloved 69-year-old senator has been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a progressive, inflammatory disease that causes extended periods of severe back pain and stiffness, pain and swelling in the hips, knees and ribs, and extreme tiredness. While symptoms vary from person to person, AS may also cause vertebrae in the spine to fuse, which leads to less flexibility in the spine.

He has additional health problems as well.

"I don't want to serve if I can't give it 100 percent," Stover said.

"I also want to spend more time with my family and I want to watch my grandchildren grow up," he emphasized. "There are other things I want to do as well.

"I've decided it's time. It's just time."

—Stover has been an elected official for the past two decades, but he's been in public service since high school.

He served as the Wyoming County circuit clerk for nearly 16 years. During that time, he served on the West Virginia Association of Counties Board of Directors and was board president for a year. He was also president of the West Virginia Circuit Clerks Association for two years.

Stover then became a state senator in 2020, serving the 9th District.

Before that, he taught school for 27 years.

Additionally, he's a well-known storyteller across West Virginia and has undertaken more than half-a-dozen widely-publicized protest walks for a variety of causes through the years.

—In 1977, Stover attempted to walk across America, see the country as pioneers did, walking west. An Achilles tendon injury, however, stopped the walk which actually did not have a cause.

—In 1980, he walked to Washington, D.C. with a bucket of coal to support a bill that would have caused power companies to use domestic energy or prove it was too prohibitively expensive before importing foreign supplies.

—In 1998, he again walked from Mullens to Washington, D.C. to protest Kyoto Protocol, which he believed would impact the coal industry and cost the county jobs. America did not sign Kyoto.

—In 2006, Stover walked from Welch to Charleston to bring attention to the need for the Coalfields Expressway, especially in Wyoming and McDowell counties, neither of which had a four-lane at the time.

—In 2011, Stover again walked to Charleston to bring attention to the unfairness of the state's redistricting plan.

—In 2012, he walked for the third time to Washington, D.C. in an effort to meet with President Barack Obama about the future of coal, or lack of it, he believed, under the Obama Administration. He did not meet with Obama, but did meet with then U.S. Rep. Nick Joe Rahall.

—In 2019, he again walked from Welch to Charleston, 134 miles, to bring attention to the need for the completion of the Coalfields Expressway to the Virginia state line — across Wyoming, McDowell and Raleigh counties. He met with Gov. Jim Justice and state highways officials at the end of the week-long walk. "He gave me his personal guarantee that the road would be finished to Pineville and, if he's re-elected, all the way to Virginia in the next five years," Stover said after the walk.

—In 2021, despite serious, ongoing health problems, he once again began the 350-mile walk from Mullens to Washington D.C. This time he wanted to bring attention to the need for the U.S. Congress to pass an infrastructure bill.

The House of Representatives passed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill later on the same day Stover began his walk, which included nearly $6 billion for West Virginia projects. As a result, Stover ended his walk after nearly 15 miles, from Mullens to Sophia, and an entire day of tortured walking.

Among his pet projects has been seeing the Coalfields Expressway completed to the Virginia border as well as protecting the natural splendor and tranquility of West Virginia's state parks.

"Once the Coalfields becomes a major highway, it's going to do more for us than people can believe," he emphasized.

"Factor in the recreational trails, the river sports, the hiking/biking trails, as well as Twin Falls Resort State Park and R.D. Bailey Lake, along with the three companies moving into the county to make use of new coal waste technologies — and those are the pillars of a new county economy," he said.