Rucker is Right: West Virginia Republicans Must Control Republican Primaries

Sen. Patricia Rucker said out loud what many West Virginia Republicans have been thinking for months. In her remarks to The Shepherdstown Register, Rucker cut through the noise surrounding the renewed push to reopen GOP primaries and called it exactly what it is: a tired, deceptive effort to undermine Republican voters and Republican principles.

Rucker compared the issue to a mythical hydra—cut it down, and it’s head comes right back.

That analogy fits perfectly.

The West Virginia Republican State Executive Committee already settled this question in 2024, voting to close GOP primaries to registered Republicans. Yet a small group of insiders is now trying to resurrect the same failed arguments, hoping voters won’t notice.

Why do they keep pushing? Rucker gave the honest answer. Open primaries benefit Democrats and political opportunists who know they can’t beat Republicans outright. Instead, they try to manipulate GOP primaries—boosting the weakest, most liberal, or most erratic candidates to sabotage Republicans before the general election even begins. That isn’t participation. It’s interference.

Closed primaries exist for one simple reason: parties have the right to choose their own leaders. A primary is not a general election. It is an internal decision-making process, and only registered Republicans should decide who represents the Republican Party. Anything else defeats the purpose of having parties at all.

Rucker also addressed the predictable cries of “exclusion.” Conservatives who are unaffiliated or registered independent are not being locked out—they are being invited in. If they share Republican values, they are welcome to join the party and help strengthen it ideologically. That’s how a party grows—with commitment, not convenience.

When Republicans nominate candidates who don’t reflect the party platform, voters lose trust, turnout suffers, and conservatives pay the price. Rucker understands that protecting the primary process is about protecting the future of the party itself.

West Virginia Republicans spoke in 2024. The decision was made. Sen. Rucker is right to defend it—and Republicans across the state should stand with her and reject yet another attempt to dilute their voice.