CHARLESTON, W.Va. —
Sen. Walt Helmick has won an open seat for agriculture commissioner.The Greenbrier County Democrat defeated Republican Kent Leonhardt on Tuesday.
The seat was left open by the retirement of Gus Douglass, a Democrat who had held the office since 1964. He was the nation’s longest-serving agriculture chief.
Helmick has a spring water bottling business on his 200-acre property and has grown hay for use by neighboring farms.
Leonhardt operates a 380-acre farm in Monongalia County where he raises cattle, sheep and goats while also growing produce and hay. He had questioned Helmick’s farming credentials.
Helmick argued that as a former Senate Finance Committee chairman, he knew how to aid economic development through the agriculture office.
