CHARLESTON — A select group of West Virginia Republicans are quietly mounting a last-minute push to reopen the party’s primary elections, despite a 2024 vote by state party leaders to keep GOP primaries closed to registered Republicans only, according to sources familiar with the effort. Party insiders are laying the groundwork for a vote at the upcoming state January meeting, fueling concerns the process is being reshaped out of public view.
The meeting with take place at Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 1:00 p.m., located in The Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Charleston.
Sources tell Mountaineer Journal the push is being driven by members of the Capito campaign and their allies. Breitbart News previously reported the Capito family was among the primary forces working to prevent the Republican Party from closing its primaries ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
Republican Party Chairman Josh Holstein is allegedly leading the renewed effort, along with Monongalia County Republican Party Chairman Dale Sparks, sources said. The move comes as party officials argue the closed primary system risks alienating independent voters who are not formally registered with the GOP.
In December, the Monongalia County Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution urging state party leaders to open the May 2026 Republican primary. The resolution runs counter to a decision by the West Virginia Republican State Executive Committee, which voted in 2024 to close primary elections to registered Republican voters.
Sparks has publicly argued that closed primaries could discourage participation and suppress turnout among unaffiliated voters who often vote in Republican Primaries.
“There are a lot of people who don’t want to check a box, and we’re alienating them, I’m afraid,” Sparks told WV MetroNews. “That’s not what we want to do; we want everybody to vote.”
“I feel it’s necessary to keep the primary open to encourage those people to join our party — not to shut them out and say we don’t want you, because we do want you,” Sparks said.
Del. Chris Anders (R-Berkeley 97) explained that this move by a select group of moderates within the state GOP is an attempt to manipulate election outcomes rather than expand participation.
“Let’s call this exactly what it is: an attempt to steal Republican primary elections,” Anders told Mountaineer Journal. “When party leadership starts changing the rules after seeing polling they don’t like, that is election rigging — plain and simple.”
Anders said reopening the primaries would dilute the influence of registered Republican voters and undermine grassroots conservatives who have gained momentum in recent election cycles.
“This has nothing to do with participation or unity,” Anders said. “This is about maintaining control.”
According to Anders, party leaders are reacting to electoral outcomes rather than voter engagement concerns.
“They’ve realized that grassroots conservatives — those who actually represent Republican voters — are winning,” he said. “Instead of earning support, they want to dilute Republican votes by inviting non-Republicans into Republican primaries to tip the scales and silence the base.”
Anders rejected arguments that open primaries strengthen the party, arguing that Republican primaries should be decided exclusively by Republican voters.
“Republican primaries belong to Republican voters. Period,” Anders said. “If you want to vote in a Republican primary, become a Republican.”
He warned that reopening the primaries would override the will of GOP voters and protect party insiders from accountability.
“Any attempt to open primaries to non-Republicans is a deliberate effort to override the will of GOP voters and protect insiders from accountability,” Anders said. “It is playing the same dirty games they claim to oppose — and Republican voters see right through it.”
Anders said he will oppose any effort to reopen the primaries, framing the issue as one of election integrity and party transparency.
“I will not support any scheme to steal our primaries, undermine Republican voters, or rig elections to preserve power,” Anders said. “I stand with the grassroots, with fair elections, and with the Republican voters who built this party — not those trying to manipulate it when the people won’t fall in line.”
State party leaders have not publicly indicated whether the effort to revisit the closed primary decision will be taken up ahead of the 2026 election.
