By Steven Allen Adams
For The intelligencer
CHARLESTON — With the 2026 legislative session gaveling in at noon today, one of the chairs of a major West Virginia Senate committee is stepping aside, accusing leadership of political pressure.
State Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, resigned Tuesday as chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, where she has served since appointed by Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, since last year.
In a one-paragraph letter, Chapman accused Smith of demanding her support for his continued leadership as her reason for stepping down.
“Given your demand that I promise my support to you, I am hereby immediately resigning as health chair,” Chapman wrote. “I made a pledge when I ran for office that my vote belongs to the people of the Northern Panhandle and not to another senator, lobbyist, or special interest group.”
Smith declined to address Chapman’s specific allegations but released a statement acknowledging the letter and thanking Chapman for her service as chairwoman. It was not immediately clear who Smith would appoint to succeed her as committee chair.
“I have received Senator Chapman’s letter of resignation,” Smith said. “I thank her for her leadership and hard work she put in as Chairman.”
Chapman was first elected to the state Senate in 2022 for the 1st Senatorial District, representing Ohio, Brooke and Hancock counties and part of Marshall County. She defeated Judi Varner Meyer in the Republican primary and former delegate Randy Swartzmiller in the general election.
A resident of Wheeling, Chapman is married to Matthew Chapman and has two children, Jackson and Eloise. She is a graduate of Mount de Chantal, a private Catholic all-girls school in Wheeling, and a graduate of West Virginia University, where she has her law degree. He legal focus has been on constitutional law.
Chapman, who is in the final year of her first four-year term in the Senate, also serves on the Senate’s Judiciary and Banking and Insurance committees. She serves on the following legislative interim committees: Corrections and Public Safety, Government Organization, Insurance and PEIA, Judiciary, and Technology and Infrastructure. As one of her last acts in committee leadership, Chapman co-chaired Tuesday’s Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability.
Chapman filed paperwork with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office Monday seeking a second four-year term in the Senate.
“It has been the honor of my life to be chosen to represent the Northern Panhandle,” Chapman said on social media Monday. “Today, I filed for re-election for state senate to continue fighting for our voice to be heard. We are no longer forgotten, and I humbly ask for your vote to continue to make District 1 an even better place to raise a family.”
In a press release Tuesday afternoon, Smith replaced Chapman as Senate Health and Human Resources chair with state Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette. Smith also announced that Senate Majority Whip Jay Taylor, R-Taylor, will become the new senate president pro tempore, succeeding former state senator Donna Boley, who resigned last week for health reasons.
Succeeding Taylor as senator majority is state Sen. Ben Queen, R-Harrison. And state Sen. Anne Charnock, R-Kanawha, will succeed Boley as chairwoman of the Senate Confirmations Committee.
“I’m grateful to these senators for agreeing to step up and take on new leadership roles as we get started this year,” Smith said. “These changes put us in a strong position to lead with a strong West Virginia-first agenda, and I am confident that with our new leadership, we will bring monumental change to our citizens. I look forward to the work that each of these Senators will do during our upcoming regular session.”
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