It will be a three way race in West Virginia’s House of Delegates District 59. The district covers the southern part of Morgan County and the northeastern part of Berkeley County.
The Republican is Saira Blair, the 17 year old daughter of Senator Craig Blair.
She defeated the incumbent Larry Kump in the May primary by a vote of 55 percent to 45 percent.
The Democrat is Martinsburg lawyer Layne Diehl.
And the Constitution Party candidate will be Jeff Becker of Hedgesville.
Diehl this week floated an environmental survey to gauge citizen reaction to such hot button issues as fracking and mountaintop removal.
Becker favors a moratorium on fracking and has yet to make a decision on whether to support a moratorium on mountaintop removal mining.
Diehl says that while she will “press for responsibility and accountability for the mining and gas industries,” she refuses to take a position for or against a moratorium on fracking or mountaintop removal mining.
And it sounds like she won’t take a position before the election.
“It’s appropriate to consider slowing down those processes,” Diehl said. “But it needs to be done in an intelligent way. The Environmental Protection Agency often does things in a dogmatic way.”