CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Top West Virginia officials on Friday said they would welcome three Maryland counties that inquired about becoming part of the Mountain State, even though the likelihood of the union is almost nonexistent.
“We’re absolutely standing here with open arms,” Gov. Jim Justice said during a morning news conference that included Senate President Craig Blair and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, who also offered their support.
Justice offered to call state lawmakers back for a special session to vote on a resolution that would add about 250,000 people in Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties in Maryland to West Virginia.
Maryland officials representing the counties wrote letters dated Oct. 14 to Blair and Hanshaw expressing interest in joining West Virginia, news outlets reported. The letters were signed by Maryland state Sen. George Edwards and Delegates Wendell Beitzel, Jason Buckel, Mike McKay and William Wivell.
“The western areas of the state feel they’re being shortchanged in a lot of respects, and we had a lot of constituents approaching us … saying, ‘Why can’t we just join West Virginia?’ It’s just that simple,” Beitzel told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
The odds of the counties actually making the move are slim. Not only would it be legally complicated, it would also require referendums and approvals from lawmakers in both states as well as from the U.S. Congress.
“There’s almost zero chance of this ever occurring,” Buckel, who heads the GOP caucus in the Maryland House of Delegates, told The Baltimore Sun.
He said he hopes it will remind lawmakers to give more consideration to the needs of the western Maryland counties.
Last year, officials in Frederick County, Virginia, rejected a proposal from West Virginia lawmakers asking if they wanted to make a similar move.
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