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West Virginia lawmakers at the state and federal levels are looking to welcome disaffected Virginians into Mountaineer country after Democrats swept elections this week with Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger and Attorney General-elect Jay Jones winning big.
Virginia and West Virginia were a unified state until June 1863 – when the ultimate result of the “Wheeling Convention” saw delegates in western counties vote to split from the east in order to prevent forcibly seceding from the U.S. as that effort percolated in Richmond.
That split may be seeing evidence of mending, as a West Virginia lawmaker announced plans Thursday to invite several western Virginia counties and those in Maryland’s Western Panhandle to join West Virginia.
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Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, center, sits at the confluence of Virginia’s Shenandoah River, left, and Maryland’s Potomac River, right. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Much of what is now West Virginia abhorred or did not utilize slavery, and abolitionist John Brown famously led a raid against the federal armory in Jefferson County in what became the easternmost point in the Mountain State – hoping to spur a slave revolt.
A century-and-a-half-later, West Virginia state Sen. Chris Rose put forth a bill Thursday that would reunite his state with several conservative counties along the Virginia border and extending toward Tennessee and North Carolina.
A map of the areas in Rose’s bill published by Beckley’s NBC affiliate showed a several-hundred-mile swath of Virginia from Big Stone Gap, down through Jonesville and extending north through Tazewell, Bland and Luray would be formally invited to join West Virginia.
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The map would essentially render West Virginia’s eastern panhandle moot geographically – and reunite Charles Town and Martinsburg with geopolitically similar neighbors in Berryville and Brucetown, Virginia.
Charleston would also add newcomers from Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties in high-tax Maryland to their fold.
Rose, R-Morgantown, said the areas in his bill “share geographic, economic, cultural, and historical connections with West Virginia, including a strong Appalachian heritage, rural lifestyles, and a focus on individual liberties.”
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Jim Justice. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, File)
The move follows West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s invitation Wednesday to Virginians to essentially reunite with their neighbors.”
Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.V. previously teamed up with Virginia neighbor and evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr. to promote a similar effort that he said actually reaffirms an outstanding offer from the 1860s.
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Asked about the newfound sentiment of inviting disaffected neighbors in, a Justice spokesman suggested the situation would show a true contrast in responsible governance.
“Senator Justice has long been one to welcome those disappointed with failed progressive leadership to West Virginia,” Justice spokesman Will O’Grady told Fox News Digital Thursday.
“He continues to promote the state and has proven West Virginia is truly a diamond in the rough when it comes to places to live, work, and raise a family.”
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Jay Jones, left, Abigail Spanberger, center (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Justice and Falwell said in 2020 that Frederick County – across the border from Martinsburg – still has a separate, singular invitation from 1862 to join West Virginia, while others remain with a collective RSVP.
Falwell, whose family has been in Virginia since the 1600s and in the Lynchburg area – where Liberty University is located – since the 1900s, according to reports, cited Thomas Jefferson’s own admonition in the Declaration of Independence about the occasional need to “dissolve the political bands” when “the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them.”
Justice, Falwell and others supportive of gluing at least part of “old” Virginia back together, have cited the disparity between politics in Richmond and politics in the western end of the state.
While she never spoke of redrawing borders, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears previously told Fox News Digital she would have established a “second governor’s office” in southwestern Virginia – to bring what she called forgotten residents some accountability with their public officials.
Earle-Sears said at least four state capitals – including Charleston – are closer to many parts of the rural, mountainous southwest, and that voters there told her they could feel the disconnect.
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Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the Confederate arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, 1859 (Kean Collection/Getty Images)
West Virginia’s formation is seen as the only successful effort to create a new state by secession from another state.
Current initiatives in Oregon, California, and elsewhere – as well as an effort to split Staten Island from New York City to create the Republican-friendly city of Richmond — have largely stalled.
