May 20, 2026
“Pro-life voters are not tired of winning, and we want legislators willing fight to win, too. With the wins in West Virginia, great things are possible in my former home state,” said Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins. “The Pro-Life Generation works to elect and votes for champions who will work to protect Life in law and in service. We are loyal, but you have to earn our loyalty, and those who have earned it have won overwhelmingly in their primaries. We are building a more pro-life party, one race at a time.”
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WASHINGTON D.C., VA(05-20-2024) – Students for Life Action (SFLAction) is celebrating wins in 23 West Virginia primary races, the result of a strategy to ensure verified pro-life candidates in upcoming general election. During the primary season, SFLAction engaged in 33 races in the Mountaineer State and saw wins in 23 races, a 72% win rate in the state at a cost-per-vote return on investment of $388 per win. Candidates backed by Students for Life Action have won an average of 70% of their races, underscoring the strength of the pro-life grassroots movement and the effectiveness of Students for Life Action’s voter contact programs. “These results demonstrate that the pro-life message resonates strongly with voters,” said SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins. “Pro-life is both good policy and good politics, and this consistent win record is proof.”
Included in these victories were wins by SFLAction-endorsed Champion Senator Laura Chapman in Senate District 1, Future Pro-Life Champion Toby Heaney in Senate District 2, and four elections to the State Executive Committee as part of SFLAction’s push to have more pro-life representation at the GOP state conventions.
Another highlight came in House District 12, where Charles Hartzog defeated incumbent Delegate Vernon Criss who, as Chairman of the House Finance & Rules Committee, was a roadblock to passage of SFLAction’s “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” going all the way back to 2023. With SFLAction’s involvement, Hartzog flipped this seat to pro-life by winning the incredibly close race by over 200 votes.
“SFLAction worked tirelessly on the ground to secure these victories, which gives West Virginians the opportunity to further defend Life in Law moving forward,” Hawkins said. “The pro-life leaders will help ensure we don’t have a repeat of this year’s disappointments. With truly pro-life leaders, West Virginia will pass more pro-life legislation, including laws to protect preborn babies and women from Chemical Abortion Pills.”
SFLAction engaged in three door-knocking deployments in West Virginia during the primary season, knocking on over 2,200 doors across the deployments, engaging in 763 conversations, and changing over 255 minds to vote for the pro-life candidate. This equates to a 33% minds changed rate on conversations had in the West Virginia primary season.
HIGHLIGHTED PRO-LIFE VICTORIES
At the start of the primary season in West Virginia, SFLAction was made aware of races that were going to be extremely close in their final vote counts. State House Districts are designated HD, while State Senate Districts are designed SD. SFLAction’s involvement in the following close races had this impact:
- SFLAction door knocked in SD 1 to inform voters of state Sen. Laura Chapman’s voting record and how she fought for Life during this year’s session. Due to SFLAction’s impact, Chapman won by over 1,200 votes, increasing her margin of victory in what would have otherwise been a very close race.
- SFLAction door knocked and did programming in SD 2 to inform voters of Future Pro-Life Champion Toby Heaney’s 100% pro-life survey response and his willingness to fight for Life. Due to SFLAction’s impact, Heaney won by more than 600 votes in a district never considered to be in play for Heaney prior to SFLAction’s involvement.
- SFLAction did programming in HD 12 to inform voters of Charles Hartzog’s 100% pro-life survey response and his willingness to fight for Life, leading to his victory over the incumbent, Criss, by more than 200 votes.
As a result of tireless on the ground engagement, SFLAction proudly announces the following major victories:
- SFLAction Endorsed Champion Senator Laura Chapman won her re-election primary in SD 1. She was one of the few senators who fought every single amendment attempted to put on SFLAction’s model “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” (SB173) to weaken it. SFLAction knocked 633 doors, 15,890 calls, 9,522 texts and 8,590 emails in her district.
READ MORE: Students for Life Action Endorses Laura Chapman for West Virginia State Senator
- Future Pro-Life Champion* Toby Heaney won his election in SD 2.
- Laura Anders, who returned her SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won her election to the State Executive Committee representing District 15 as part of SFLAction’s push to have more pro-life representation in GOP State Conventions.
- Monica Ballard-Booth, who returned her SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won her election to the State Executive Committee representing District 7 as part of SFLAction’s push to have more pro-life representation in GOP State Conventions.
- Margitta Mazzocchi, who returned her SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won her election to the State Executive Committee representing District 7 as part of SFLAction’s push to have more pro-life representation in GOP State Conventions.
- Delegate Margitta Mazzocchi, a pro-life ally, who returned our SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won her primary re-election in HD 31.
- Pro-life champion Sen. Chris Rose, a primary bill sponsor of SFLAction’s model “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” (SB173) who returned our SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won his election to the State Executive Committee – District 2 as part of SFLAction’s push to have more pro-life representation in GOP State Conventions.
- Pro-life ally Del. Rick Hillenbrand, who returned our SFLAction survey 100%, won his re-election in HD 88.
- Senator Trenton Barnhart, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life and is an approved/pledged candidate who voted to pass the SFLAction’s model “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” (SB173), won his re-election primary in SD 3.
- Pro-life ally Senator Mark Maynard, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life and is an approved/pledged candidate who voted to pass the SFLAction’s model “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” (SB173), won his re-election primary in SD 6.
- Pro-life ally Delegate Jonathan Pinson, who returned his SFLAction survey 100%, won his re-election in HD 17.
- Alex Bosley, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won his primary election in HD 85.
- Senator Jason Barrett, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election in SD 16.
- Charles Hartzog, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won his election in HD 12, defeating Del. Vernon Criss who killed our “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” as the House Finance Committee Chair in 2025.
- Delegate John Jordan, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, has won his re-election primary to House District 42.
- Delegate Gary Howell, who turned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election primary in HD 87.
- Delegate Jim Butler, who turned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election primary in HD 18.
- Delegate Carl Roop, who turned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election primary in HD 44.
- Pro-life Champion Del. Chris Anders, a primary bill sponsor of SFLAction’s model “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” (SB173) who returned our SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election primary in HD 97.
- Delegate Wayne Clark, who returned our SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election in HD 99.
- Delegate Bill Ridenour, who returned our SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election in HD 100.
- Delegate Gary Howell, who returned our SFLAction candidate survey 100% pro-life, won his re-election in HD 87.
- Melissa McCrady, who returned our SFLAction survey 100% pro-life, won her primary election in HD 3, defeating Del. Scot Heckert, who killed our “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act” as the House Health & Human Services Committee Chair in 2026.
*Future Pro-Life Champions (FPLC) are candidates who have been interviewed and vetted by SFLAction to assess viability as truly pro-life candidates who will sponsor and push pro-life legislation. Upon acceptance into our FPLC program, they get insights on how to win their election and become future pro-life champion legislators.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SFLAction’s Legislative Agenda here.
For interviews, email [email protected].
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The Pro-Life Generation (PLG) is an umbrella organization encompassing the most-cutting edge engagement opportunities for a Vote Pro-Life First Community. PLG includes Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), that together make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a grassroots political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, PLG/SFLA/SFLAction serves more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. Our team has more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. In addition to SFLA/SFLAction, PLG leads multiple initiatives to lead and serve the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement . Over more than 17 years, PLG CEO Kristan Hawkins has grown the operation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.