Delegate Riley Keaton represents Roane and Wirt Counties in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Professionally, Riley is the Director of Marketing & Communications for Roane General Hospital. He and his wife, Sadie, live in Spencer. They’re the proud parents of Margaret Rose Keaton.

Fighting For Us Like No One Else.

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Our Values

Delegate Riley Keaton is standing up for our flag, our faith, our families, and our freedoms. He hasn’t forgotten what makes us who we are.

Riley has been endorsed by the NRA and WVCDL for defending our gun rights. Every American has a right to protect themselves, their family, and what they’ve worked hard to build.

West Virginians for Life supports Riley Keaton for House of Delegates because he is the strongest champion for protecting the unborn and the vulnerable. He’s the only member of the Legislature to hold a leadership position within the pro-life movement in West Virginia.

Delegate Keaton is protecting our rural, small-town, faith-filled way of life - that’s why he’s supported by the West Virginia Farm Bureau and how he earned a 100% score from West Virginians for Biblical Values.

We owe so much to our men and women in uniform - both military and our first responders like police and firefighters. Delegate Keaton has supported increasing police pensions, improved funding of emergency medical services, and additional public benefits for veterans.

Delegate Keaton introduced the first-in-the-nation, comprehensive protections against critical race theory - in schools, the state, and the workplace. On all kinds of the craziness going on today - on issues of gender, race, sexuality, and lawlessness - Riley Keaton has stood strong for traditional values.

Riley and his wife, Sadie, attend Holy Redeemer Church in Spencer.

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Our Livelihoods

Delegate Riley Keaton is a champion for creating good, family-supporting jobs.

Riley wants to make West Virginia, particularly our little slice of it, a great place to earn a living and raise a family. Riley Keaton has fought for, and will carry on the fight for:

  • Development of industrial sites in rural communities like ours to attract high-wage, blue collar industries to our state. Riley has supported the development of Made in West Virginia manufacturing, and the jobs that come with it, throughout his service in the Legislature.

  • High-speed internet development through investments in our broadband infrastructure and holding broadband companies accountable for the service they’ve promised to provide. On the Technology & Infrastructure Committee, he’s successfully cut much of the red-tape blocking internet deployment and participated in investigations and oversight of internet service providers.

  • A culture of recovery to fight drug addiction that understands we need to replace addiction with a good job, a purpose, and a network of support from friends, family, and community. Riley joined a bipartisan coalition of legislators to expand access to opioid treatment in West Virginia.

While West Virginia has made a lot of progress, more needs done to improve our state’s business climate - Riley Keaton fought for the strongest post-Covid business re-opening liability legislation, improvements to our state’s justice system, and has a 100% voting record supporting job creation in West Virginia.

Our Communities

Delegate Riley Keaton is fighting like no one else for our communities’ priorities and interests in Charleston.

Healthcare - The West Virginia Hospital Association has endorsed Riley Keaton for House of Delegates in every election because they know Riley works hard for rural healthcare access and the jobs that come with it. He’s fought for increased healthcare funding for our communities and protected access to rural healthcare.

Energy - West Virginia is blessed with abundant natural resources. Riley understands that the development of those resources is critical to creating good, family-supporting jobs. Riley championed SB188 in the House to develop new natural gas electric generation as well as legislation to improve our state’s drilling laws to create more gas jobs.

Roads - Riley is a voice for rural road repair & maintenance funding in the State Legislature - including allocating surplus funds to rural road repairs. He introduced the bill to dedicate severance tax funding to the State Road Fund.

Economic Development - Delegate Keaton is a champion for building up our economic development toolbox so rural communities in our state can compete for world-class jobs & investment. Riley has strongly supported improved job creation incentives and the expansion of the rural industrial sites program.

Agriculture- The West Virginia Farm Bureau endorses Riley Keaton for House of Delegates because he knows the importance of local farmers in feeding people and growing our economy. Riley is a strong voice for agriculture in the Legislature - having sponsored legislation to limit frivolous lawsuits against farmers and increase the amount of West Virginia-grown food used in schools and state institutions.

“We’re in the fight of our lives for the future of our communities. Our way of life is under attack - in big ways and small - at all levels of government. Each day of my public service, I pray for the wisdom to know what’s right, the courage to act on it, and the resolve to see it through. I pledge to continue fighting like no one else to make our communities the best place to earn a living and raise a family.

— Delegate Riley Keaton

Record of Accomplishment & Vision for the Future

 

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Served on the Department of Transportation Accountability Commission to stretch every tax dollar bound for our roads.

    • HB 2002 cut regulations to make it cheaper and faster to build and fix the roads.

    • Supported $150 million in highway funding from the budget surplus.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish in the New Term:

    • Permanently direct the severance tax on coal, oil, and gas to the State Road Fund to fully fund road maintenance.

    • Supports doing what we can to fill every job at highways so jobs get done faster and cheaper.

    • Invest in new capacity, like winter-weather factories, for raw materials used in road repairs.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Fixing the supply chain. Riley was the lead sponsor of HB 4003. The law will make it easier to extract the resources needed to make microchips and other electronics, so we don’t have to depend on China for vehicles, computers, etc.

    • Giving our state a competitive advantage. Riley fought for the law to make our state the most attractive in the country for ammo and firearm manufacturing companies.

    • Building sites to welcome jobs to West Virginia. Riley worked with his colleagues to pass the state’s first industrial site development program - making our state more attractive for manufacturing jobs.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish in the New Term:

    • Riley wants to respond to our nation’s supply chain crisis by making more components and finished products in West Virginia.

    • Riley supports eliminating burdensome regulations and making our government function more like a business to promote manufacturing industries.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Riley led a coalition of pro-life legislators to enact the Unborn Child Protection Act during a special session. Because of the work of the pro-life majority and Delegate Riley Keaton, the vast, vast majority of moms and babies are protected from the abortion industry in West Virginia.

    • Riley championed the Second Chances at Life Act - which provides mothers considering an abortion information about how to reverse the effects of the abortion pill.

    • Riley fought hard, leaving it all on the field, for the Unborn Child with Disabilities Protection Act to stop the Abortion Industry from preying on babies with disabilities and their families.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish:

    • Riley believes in a culture of life where everyone is valued - no matter how small, how sick, how frail, or the circumstances of their life.

    • Riley will champion policies and organizations which make it easier for moms to choose life by cleaning up DHHR, streamlining bureaucracies so they work for expecting mothers, and provide greater security for families raising children with disabilities.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Riley championed the Second Amendment Preservation Act to stop, dead in its tracks, any efforts by the federal government to confiscate firearms or ammunition. The bill also shields citizens who exercise their constitutional right from additional federal gun control.

    • Riley supported the Right to Keep, Bear, and Drive with Arms Act to make commonsense changes to state law to protect folks who concealed carry in their vehicles from being assumed to be poachers.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish:

    • Riley wants to strengthen the Second Amendment Preservation Act to give citizens greater enforcement power if the law is broken by authorities.

    • Riley will protect our gun rights from the trial lawyers who attack the Second Amendment through lawsuits against gun manufacturers, retail businesses, and law-abiding citizens.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Giving parents choices. Riley fought hard to create the Hope Scholarship - giving parents more choices in their child’s education.

    • Supporting parent involvement. Riley worked for curriculum transparency to make sure parents can know what’s going on in their child’s classroom.

    • Raising wages for teachers and school workers. Riley voted for a 5% pay raise for teachers and school service personnel.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish:

    • Ban Critical Race Theory. Riley introduced one of the first bills in the country targeting critical race theory in schools.

    • Make School About Kids, Not Regulations. Riley supports getting the WV Department of Education out of the way and letting teachers teach instead of doing paperwork.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Took on the Biden Climate Agenda. As Delegate, Riley responded to the Biden Administration’s attacks on fossil fuel companies’access to financial services. Riley knows oil and gas jobs are critical to our economy.

    • Refusing to do business with those who refuse to do business with us. Riley fought for SB 262 which pulls our state bank deposits out of Big Banks that are boycotting fossil fuel companies.

    • Expanding our natural gas industry. Riley worked with all the interested parties to support SB 694 to improve our state’s drilling laws and make our industry competitive with surrounding states.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish:

    • Take the fight against the Green New Deal to Joe Biden. Riley supports funding any and all litigation by the Attorney General to stop the Biden Administration’s climate agenda dead in its tracks.

    • Defund Woke Companies targeting our jobs. Riley supports expanding SB 262’s efforts to fight fossil fuel boycotts by pulling our investment funds out of those companies.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Making internet expansion faster, cheaper, and easier. Riley fought for HB 2002 which reduced the time, money, and effort it takes to start and finish a broadband project.

    • Expanding consumer protections. Riley stood up for internet customers with the law requiring internet service providers to pay back customers when their service is unreliable.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplishment:

    • Holding internet companies accountable. With the large volumes of federal money coming into the state for broadband, Riley supports stronger legislative oversight of internet companies and stronger protections for taxpayers.

    • Wisely spending the federal broadband dollars. Riley supports the smart and efficient spending of the federal broadband dollars to expand service to as many folks in our communities as possible.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Eliminated the beverage tax to lower grocery bills. Riley fought for SB 533 which eliminated the state tax on beverages at the grocery store.

    • Expanding tax incentives to small businesses. Riley worked with his colleagues to pass HB 2570 to expand existing tax credits to benefit West Virginia small businesses.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish:

    • Cut income taxes for workers and small businesses. If the budget surplus is used to cut taxes, Riley wants the benefits to go toward the middle class with larger personal exemptions and the creation of a state standard deduction.

    • Create a state child tax credit. Riley wants to reduce the income tax burden on working families raising children.

    • Eliminate the inflation tax. Riley supports indexing tax brackets above inflation to lower taxes on working people and avoid double-taxing them for inflation.

  • What Riley’s Done:

    • Jobs & Hope for folks in recovery. Riley has supported Governor Justice’s Jobs & Hope program to get folks in recovery into training and into employment.

    • Protecting our rural health system. Riley has fought hard to protect rural hospitals, improve access to care, and support Roane General’s expansion.

    What Riley Wants to Accomplish:

    • Lifting the opioid treatment program moratorium. Riley joined a bipartisan effort to expand access to treatment for folks entering drug recovery.

    • Increasing hospital funding. Riley supports raising the rates government pays to healthcare providers to cover the full cost of providing rural healthcare.