Rupie Phillips

Rupert W. "Rupie" Phillips, Jr. (born February 17, 1969) is an American politician and a Republican member of the West Virginia Senate since 2020. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served in the West Virginia House of Delegates representing the 19th and 24th Districts[1] from 2011 to 2019.

Rupie Phillips
Member of the West Virginia Senate
from the 7th district
Assumed office
December 1, 2020
Serving with Mike Stuart
Preceded byPaul Hardesty
Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
from the 24th district
In office
January 2013 – January 2019
Preceded byMarty Gearheart
Succeeded byRalph Rodighiero, Tim Tomblin
Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
from the 19th district
In office
January 2011 – January 2013
Preceded byJeff Eldridge
Personal details
Born (1969-02-17) February 17, 1969
Political partyRepublican
Other political
affiliations		Democratic (before 2017)
Independent (2017)
ResidenceLorado, West Virginia

Politics

First elected as a Democrat to the House of Delegates in 2010, Phillips switched his party registration from Democrat to Independent after the 2016 elections. After a few months as an independent in 2017, Phillips became a Republican and announced a run for the Third Congressional District seat, being vacated by then-Representative Evan Jenkins in 2018. Phillips finished second in the primary to future Congresswoman and then-fellow Delegate Carol Miller.[2]

After his unsuccessful Congressional run, Phillips ran as the Republican nominee for the West Virginia Senate 7th District in 2020, where he beat then-Democratic Delegate Ralph Rodighiero in the general election.

Personal

Phillips graduated from Man High School. At one point, the license plate on his personal vehicle spelled "COALDEL," for coal delegate, and his twitter biography read, “I eat coal for breakfast.”[3] reflecting his support of the coal industry.[2]

He was arrested and charged with domestic battery in 2012.[2] In January 2016, Phillips garnered national headlines for handing out bottles of sunscreen to other Delegates on the House floor to ridicule global warming.[2][4]

Phillips was subject to national ridicule when he was unaware that power plants that operate using coal and natural gas are forced to go offline when temperatures approach 0F since the water cooling inlets freeze at such temperatures preventing operation.[5]

Elections

Senate:

West Virginia's 7th Senate district General Election, 2020
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Rupie Phillips 20,484 56.2%
Democratic Ralph Rodighiero 15,965 43.8%
Total votes 36,449 100.0%

U.S. House:

2018 West Virginia's Third Congressional District, Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Carol Miller 8,936 23.8
Republican Rupert Phillips 7,320 19.5
Republican Marty Gearheart 6,833 18.2
Republican Conrad Lucas 6,812 18.1
Republican Rick Snuffer 4,032 10.7
Republican Ayne Amjad 2,791 7.4
Republican Philip Payton 861 2.3
Total votes 37,585 100.0

House of Delegates:

2012: After being redistricted to District 24 alongside former delegate Lidella Hrutkay, Phillips ran in the seven-way Democratic Primary and placed first with 2,917 votes (26.2%) ahead of Ted Tomblin, who placed second, and former Representative Hrutkay, who took third.[6] Phillips and Tomblin were unopposed for the November general election where Phillips placed second with 6,861 votes (47.4%).[7]

2010: Phillips ran in the eleven-way Democratic Primary and placed third with 3,205 votes (13.0%) ahead of former delegate Ted Ellis.[8] The frontrunners won the six-way four-position November general election where Phillips placed fourth with 8,672 votes (18.1%) behind incumbent Representatives Ralph Rodighiero, Greg Butcher, and Josh Stowers and ahead of Republican nominees Chad Story and Elias Gregory,[9] who had run for the seat in 2006.

2008: Phillips ran in the twelve-way Democratic Primary, but did not place in the top four in the multimember district.[10] The frontrunners were unopposed for the four-position General election.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Rupert Phillips, Jr.'s Biography". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  2. Marks, Rusty (May 11, 2017). "Democrat-turned-independent Rupie Phillips goes Republican to run for Congress". The State Journal.
  3. Adams, Mason (September 22, 2017). "A New Kind of West Virginia Democrat". The New Republic.
  4. "WV delegate hands out sunscreen to ridicule global warming". Charleston Gazette-Mail. January 22, 2016.
  5. "Senators explore power supply failure - particularly from natural gas - during winter storm". Morgantown Dominion Post. January 26, 2023.
  6. "Statewide Results Primary Election May 8, 2012 Official Results". Charleston, West Virginia: Secretary of State of West Virginia. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  7. "Statewide Results General Election November 6, 2012 Official Results". Charleston, West Virginia: Secretary of State of West Virginia. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  8. "Statewide Results Primary Election May 11, 2010 Official Results". Charleston, West Virginia: Secretary of State of West Virginia. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  9. "Statewide Results General Election November 2, 2010 Official Results". Charleston, West Virginia: Secretary of State of West Virginia. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  10. "Statewide Results Primary Election May 13, 2008 Official Results". Charleston, West Virginia: Secretary of State of West Virginia. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  11. "Statewide Results General Election November 4, 2008 Official Results". Charleston, West Virginia: Secretary of State of West Virginia. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
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