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July 27, 2005
Rick Snuffer Expected to Announce Run for Rahall's 3rd District Seat
Rick Snuffer
by HNN Staff
Beckley, WV (HNN) – Rick Snuffer, who was defeated in his 2004 race against U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D–WV), says he is going to announce his plans for the 2006 election cycle before the Republican State Executive Committee meets in Charleston next month. Rahall's Republican challenger, a Raleigh County homebuilder and former pastor, is expected to seek a rematch with the 14–term Third District incumbent in their mutual home county of Raleigh.
"As we have continued to travel throughout West Virginia, it is very humbling to receive the response and show of support we have been getting," Snuffer told HNN on July 26, 2005.
"All I will say right now is that I am focusing my attention on doing the things I need to be doing for Lori and 'the Snuffer Boys', as our three sons have become known throughout the state."
After announcing to supporters during the Executive Committee's winter meeting at Flatwoods he would be a candidate for federal office again in 2006, Snuffer has been relatively quiet in public regarding a repeat attempt to capture a second Republican Congressional seat for West Virginia.
"The campaign begins in earnest next month and we will be ready for the challenge ahead," Snuffer added. "There truly is a two party system in place in West Virginia now, so our focus must be on capturing our party's nomination. With the ever changing landscape in West Virginia politics and so many rumors of retirement and replacement, there is no use trying to guess who we will be seeking to unseat in the fall of 2006. As Mark Weaver, our media strategist, told us last time around, 'There's only one race. You fail to win your primary and you sit home until the next cycle begins'."
Snuffer concludes, "We have no intention on sitting home during the 2006 general election."
