Hall defends switch that gave Senate GOP majority

The Wyoming County state senator who flipped to the GOP after its election landslide said he can best serve his district by being in the majority.

Sen. Dan Hall (R-Wyoming, 09) switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican on Wednesday—giving Republicans the majority in the Senate, 18-16, for the first time in more than 80 years.

“If I’m going to work for the people of my district, which is what I’m sent to Charleston to do, I’ve got to be a part of leadership and be a part of the majority party to do that,” Hall said on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

Hall’s party change came a day after the GOP won seven seats to force a 17-17 draw with Democrats in the Senate. On Election Day, Republicans won a 64-36 majority in the state House of Delegates, the first time that had happened since 1931.

With Hall’s decision, Republicans will control both the state Senate and state House of Delegates when the 2015 Regular Legislative Session begins on Jan. 14.

State Sen. Bill Cole (R-Mercer, 06) said he had been recruiting Hall for some time as part of a comprehensive effort to put more Republicans in the legislature.

“I’ve encouraged Daniel, for the last year or so, that he might want to consider another party,” Cole said. “Quite frankly, he ran as a Republican in Raleigh County before he switched to Democrat.”

Hall became a Democrat and was elected to the House of Delegates for two terms beginning with the 2008 election. He was elected to the state Senate as a Democrat in 2012. As recently as this week, Hall had been campaigning for Sen. Mike Green (D-Raleigh, 09) who lost his re-election bid Tuesday.

“People in my district who know me know I’m the same person today that I was 10 years ago. I still stand for the people of Wyoming, Raleigh and McDowell counties regardless of what party I’m in,” Hall said.

“This decision was nothing more than supporting and giving my district the best chance to improve itself.”

Sen. Roman Prezioso (D-Marion, 13), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, called Hall’s decision surprising and said an evenly split Senate could have been an intriguing makeup.

“I think there was a clear message in this election that we want to quit drawing lines in the sand and work together. We could have made history,” said Prezioso.

He applauded Cole for doing a “masterful job” of helping Republicans win elections throughout West Virginia.

“You’ve got to really admire what he did by having the money and the resources and the time to recruit pretty good candidates and made a difference,” Prezioso said. “With the help of the national mood out there, it was a perfect storm.”

Cole was not ruling out other Democrat defections. “I certainly think the possibility’s there,” he said while deflecting questions, on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline,” about reports that he will be the next Senate President.

“We’ve been meeting. The meetings, the phone calls have started and there is nothing but solidarity among the (Republican) senators. There’s no infighting, there’s no riffs, there’s no power struggles going on,” Cole said.

“We’ve been in election mode for a year now and what we really want so much to do now is get to work.”