On Tuesday, Saira Blair of West Virginia became the youngest state lawmaker-elect in the nation.
Blair is an 18-year-old freshman at West Virginia University. According to the Wall Street Journal, she is an economics major and “hopes to become a financial planner.”
She ran as a Republican on what she calls a “fiscally conservative platform,” and says that she is “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and pro-Constitution.”
She recently told Fox News that she wanted to run for office after watching “too many people” receive a good education in West Virginia and yet be forced to leave the state to look for jobs afterwards.
“It’s sad that they have to leave their family and the wonderful state that they love, and so it’s most important for me to bring jobs here,” said Blair.
“I’m living proof that you can get a good education in West Virginia if you choose to, but it’s very difficult to find a good paying job and I want to change that,” writes Blair on her campaign website.
Blair received an “A” Rating from the National Rifle Association, and endorsements from West Virginia Farm Bureau, West Virginians for Life and West Virginians for Manufacturing Jobs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Blair carried 63 percent of the vote. She will represent a “small district in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle, about 1½ hours outside Washington, D.C.”
Blair will defer her spring semester at WVU so she can serve in the West Virginia House of Delegates’ spring session, making up the classes next summer and fall.
