W.Va. Del. Erikka Storch (R-3rd) is in her 12th year as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates.
She cringes when she is reminded of that fact because, in her words, “It sounds like such a long time, but it didn’t feel like it.”
She has run for the position unopposed and challenged, and this time around, when District 3 will sort of split into two new ones, she will face off against Democrat Teresa Toriseva, a successful defense attorney from here in Wheeling, to represent the new District 4.
“Redistricting and population loss,” Storch explained. “Hopefully, someday, there’ll be reasons to go back to two-delegate districts.”
Storch is a Republican, the party almighty in Charleston now with supermajorities in both the House and state Senate. She is the chairperson of the Interstate Cooperation and Pension and Retirement committees, and Storch is a member of the Finance, House Rules, Political Subdivisions, Redistricting, and Technology, and Infrastructure committees, too.
She has not, however, been appointed to a power position by House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, a gentleman now in his fourth year as the chamber’s leader after winning his first election in 2015.
“The fact that I have not always voted with the other members of my party has, possibly, cost me positions of leadership over the years. I do believe that’s fair to say,” Storch said. “I voted against the party line concerning the repeal of prevailing wage because I thought that was stupid, and I voted against Right to Work because I thought that was stupid, too. So, that could have cost me, but I’ve also turned a position down.
“I didn’t believe if I was vice chair of the House’s finance committee that it would bode best for the people in my district because it may have forced me to support initiatives that I didn’t believe were best for the people in the Third District,” she explained. “I decided at that time to work on other bills and amendments that were in the best interests instead of supporting things I didn’t think were best for us up here.”
“Boss”
Finance. Education. Health. Judiciary. Government Organization, and Energy.
Those are the big six committees in the House of Delegates, and Storch has been a member of Finance for 10 years now. Could she be a boss instead? Perhaps, but in her mind, it would present an impossible position.
“The Northern Panhandle is very unique when you compare it to the other districts around the state, and that’s why our priorities in Ohio County are very different than those other areas,” the lawmaker explained. “Maybe if you live in a landlocked county in the middle of the state, your issues are close to the same to someone’s from a neighboring county, but that’s the case up here.
“I do vote most of the time with my fellow Republicans in Charleston, but it’s not across the board. To me, it’s always been people over politics,” she said. “And I know I still make people mad at me because of the way I vote sometimes, but that’s going to happen. That’s a part of it.”
It didn’t help when Del. Storch decided to vote for the other guy in the race for Speaker of the House.
“When all of that was taking place, I asked Speaker Hanshaw if he wanted to be the speaker, and he never answered me. Instead, he asked me if I thought he would be good in the position,” she recalled. “I told him that he’s a brilliant man, and I’m sure he’d be a great speaker, but because he never answered me, I voted for Del. Eric Nelson, a gentleman who is now a member of the state Senate.
“Could that be a reason I’ve not been asked about one of those major committees? Maybe,” Storch said. “But that’s not what matters to me and not why I decided to run in the first place.”
Her People
From her house in Woodsdale, only an alley separates the future districts 4 and 5. Across that alley is the street where Del. Shawn Fluharty resides.
Storch is running to represent the future District 4 and Fluharty the District 5 to be.
“When you look at the map, it’s really confusing,” she admitted. “It’s the worst in my neighborhood, as far as being able to tell where it’s (District) 4 and not (District) 5.”
That is one of several reasons why Storch will not ask a resident when they call or email if they live on the other side of the alley before assisting them with whatever issue they may have.
“They are my friends, they are my neighbors, and they are my family,” Storch said. “They are my people, and I am very territorial about them. Plus, I am proud to represent Ohio County Schools because we don’t have the issues that other school districts do in our state,” the lawmaker insisted. “Plus, in my district there are a lot of people who I can call to ask questions or for their input on whatever I might be working on at the time.
“Overall, the people in the districts are moderates who lean right, as far as politics are concerned,” she added. “They appreciate what we have here in Ohio County because they’ve realized not everyone has an Oglebay Park or the riverfront or all the things that we take for granted most days. So, yeah, working with those people for those things has been more important to me than some big-time leadership position.”
