---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election"
description: "Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 5298"
citation: "West Virginia HB 5298 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Espinosa"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 41
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2024-01-29"
last_action: "2024-04-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dfba82df-8afd-4921-8ecf-ddd441f1209b"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=5298&year=2024&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "0056f15ca95c3f526b7850c5ab7768f1cf0304ea045a0962ccc20fa5039d010b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wv"]
---

# West Virginia HB 5298 (2024) — Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb5298%20enr.htm&yr=2024&sesstype=RS&i=5298)
2. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb5298%20intr.htm&yr=2024&sesstype=RS&i=5298)
3. **hb5298 s jud am _1 2-27 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2024/RS/com_amends/hb5298%20s%20jud%20am%20_1%202-27%20adopted.htm)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE-SENATE AMENDED HB — **97–1** (pass) · lower
- EFFECT Jan 01, 2025 — **95–2** (pass) · lower
- EFFECT Jan 01, 2025 — **89–2** (pass) · lower
- PASSAGE — **88–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Espinosa — primary (person)
- Clark, W. — cosponsor (person)
- Young — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2024-01-29** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2024-01-29** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-29** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2024-01-29** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-05** Do pass
- **2024-02-06** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2024-02-06** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-07** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2024-02-07** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-08** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2024-02-08** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-08** Passed House (Roll No. 130) `passage`
- **2024-02-08** Effective January 1, 2025 (Roll No. 131)
- **2024-02-08** Communicated to Senate
- **2024-02-09** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2024-02-09** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-09** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-29** Reported do pass, with amendment and title amendment `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-29** Immediate consideration
- **2024-02-29** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2024-03-01** On 2nd reading
- **2024-03-01** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2024-03-01** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2024-03-04** On 3rd reading
- **2024-03-04** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-04** Passed Senate with amended title (Roll No. 340) `passage`
- **2024-03-04** Effective January 1, 2025 (Roll No. 340)
- **2024-03-04** Senate requests House to concur
- **2024-03-07** House received Senate message
- **2024-03-07** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 521)
- **2024-03-07** Effective January 1,2025 (Roll No. 522)
- **2024-03-07** Communicated to Senate
- **2024-03-07** Completed legislative action
- **2024-03-08** House Message received
- **2024-03-09** To Governor 3/21/2024 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-21** To Governor 3/21/2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-09** To Governor 3/21/2024 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-09** Approved by Governor 3/27/24 - Senate Journal `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-27** Approved by Governor 3/27/24 `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-09** Approved by Governor 3/27/24 - House Journal `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-22** Chapter 126, Acts, Regular Session, 2024 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dfba82df-8afd-4921-8ecf-ddd441f1209b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).