The attorney general’s race in the state of West Virginia was expected to be a tight one. No one though expected the race to last in to the wee hours of the morning. At 1:30 Republican Dan Greear finally called Darrell McGraw to congratulate him on the win.
Attorney General Darrell McGraw has powerful friends – especially among the states trial lawyers.
But he also has created some powerful enemies too – especially the state and U.S. Chambers of Commerce, which have bankrolled a multimillion dollar multi-year campaign to unseat him.
Caught in the middle of all this was South Charleston lawyer Dan Greear, who couldn’t control the estimated half million dollar ad buy against McGraw in the last days of the campaign.
On election night, Greear and his supporters gathered in a small conference at the Marriott. Unlike McGraw, Greear allowed the media to watch his excitement and his agony throughout the evening.
They watched the numbers go back and forth as the results stayed close to 50% on both sides. Each time the numbers changed in Greear’s direction the crowd celebrated.
But at 1:30 a.m., Dan Greear decided that the 3,500 vote margin that was reported with 96% of the precincts in was too much to overcome.
“It wasn’t an easy night, you know it wasn’t the funnest thing to do in my life, but that’s part of the game and that’s what you got to go through, that’s part of putting yourself out there for public office and you realize that’s a possibility. So it’s been a long night, but it’s time to move on,” he said.
Greear choked up a little bit as he thanked his supporters.
“I can’t think them enough, just the great people, certainly starting with my family and my wife. And my mom and dad and it’s been tough, but I thank them for all their support,” he said.
Greear says he’s looking forward to getting back to his law firm which he’s neglected during the campaign.
After the race was close enough for the number crunchers to call, we caught up with Darrell McGraw.
His supporters watched the election unfold at an office at the Holiday Inn Heart of Town. McGraw said his opponent wasn’t really Greear – it was the business interests that he had angered over the years through his lawsuits.
“We looked at this campaign as an effort to resist third parties who people who have an interest of prosecuting of cases in the past,” he said.
Critics, mainly the Chambers of Commerce, accused McGraw of being an activist. But McGraw checked his dictionary and is proud of the definition of activist – and his work in office.
As of 3 a.m. this morning, with 98% of precincts reporting, McGraw led by fewer than 4,000 or the 650,000 votes cast.