West Virginia Newspapers Silent on Delegate Hamilton’s Remarks While National Outlets Cover Story

MORGANTOWN — Nearly all of West Virginia’s dominant newspapers have chosen not to cover Democratic Delegate Anitra Hamilton’s inflammatory social media posts comparing conservative activist Charlie Kirk to a North Carolina train murderer — even as the story has made national headlines.

Hamilton, elected in 2023 to represent Monongalia County, wrote on Facebook that Kirk, who was shot and killed Wednesday during a speaking event in Utah, was no different than Decarlos Brown Jr., who fatally stabbed a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light rail train in August. Her remarks accused Kirk of racism and “domestic terrorism,” prompting immediate backlash from conservatives across the country.

National publications including the Independent Journal Review and the Daily Caller have reported on Hamilton’s statements. But in West Virginia, some of the state’s largest outlets have refused to touch the story. Neither the Charleston Gazette-Mail nor the Herald-Dispatch published coverage. Ogden Newspapers, which controls the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Wheeling Intelligencer, Wheeling News-Register, Weirton Daily Times and The Inter-Mountain, also remained silent.

Only two independent news outlets — the Ridgeview News and Mountaineer Journal — reported on Hamilton’s comments and the growing controversy. Their coverage highlighted the insensitivity of comparing a conservative leader gunned down in front of college students to a brutal knife attack on public transit.

The lack of reporting from the state’s most established newspapers has raised accusations of political bias and information suppression. Critics say the silence would have been unthinkable had a Republican lawmaker made similar remarks about a progressive figure.

Hamilton has not walked back or clarified her statements since the criticism began.