"My brother was gay and died of AIDS," David McKinley, former West Virginia State Delegate, Republican state chairman, and just-defeated candidate for his party’s nomination for governor, told me in the fall of 1996.
I had just written an article on how former Gov. Cecil Underwood had won the primary for his old job by running to the right of McKinley and another opponent.
One of the issues that underscored Underwood's position to the right of McKinley was the latter’s vote in the legislature for funding to find a cure for AIDS — a measure strongly pushed by gay organizations.
McKinley explained that while he did not support the gay agenda, he nevertheless backed the AIDS measure out of love for his late brother.
And, he added, "if that was so critical to my losing the primary, so be it. I’d do it again."
McKinley knew me from my coverage of Republican National Committee meetings, where he was always accessible and — with his wide grin and walrus mustache — easily recognizable. There was no rancor or bitterness in his call.
Upon learning that McKinley died last week at age 79, I immediately recalled our conversation.
He had no need to call — having lost his bid for governor — but he wanted me to know just why he voted for legislation that was certainly not popular with GOP primary voters in the Mountain State.
Fourteen years later, following the Republican sweep in midterm elections in a clearly hostile response to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), newly-minted Rep. David McKinley welcomed me to his House office.
Yes, he would vote to repeal Obamacare, he told me, but his priority was "that guy up there" — pointing to an enlarged black-and-white photograph of a bearded coal miner that hung on his wall.
"We’ve got to stop the war on coal," he said, illustrating his fear that environmentalists and others would wipe out a pivotal business and many jobs in his state.
For the next two years, McKinley sponsored and lined up votes for the Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act — known among supporters as the Stop the War on Coal Act.
In September 2012, the measure was enacted and signed into law by President Obama.
McKinley was a self-proclaimed conservative on many issues — strongly pro-life, pro-Second Amendment (he got a 100 percent score from the National Rifle Association), and for a market-based alternative to Obamacare.
But on other issues the West Virginia Republican dealt with in his dozen years in Congress, he occasionally crossed party lines and worked with Democrats.
In 2021, he was one of only 13 House Republicans to support President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
His dueling with environmentalists notwithstanding, McKinley believed in climate change and — in contrast to most House Republicans — he supported legislation to deal with the issue now.
As he did in the state House of Delegates, McKinley supported legislation in Congress favored by the LGBTQ community and was one of only 60 Republicans in the House to vote to uphold President Obama’s executive order banning federal contractors making decisions based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Although almost always voting with Donald Trump throughout his first presidency, McKinley was also one of 35 House Republicans voting to create the Jan. 6 commission to investigate the attack on the U.S. Capitol over the 2020 elections.
It was this vote that was probably most responsible for his downfall.
With redistricting merging McKinley’s old 1st District with the 2nd District of conservative firebrand and fellow Rep. Alex Mooney, the two Republicans squared off against one another in 2022.
To no one’s surprise, former President Trump strongly endorsed Mooney and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin called on independents to vote for McKinley.
Mooney won handily, and — voicing no regrets or rancor — McKinley retired to his Wheeling home.
A lifelong Wheeling resident, David McKinley earned an engineering degree from Purdue University.
He soon launched his own firm that would grow to 40 employees and oversee more that $1 billion in construction projects in 30 years.
McKinley served in the state House of Delegates from 1980-94 and as party chairman from 1980-94.
In 2010, 1st District Democrats surprised everyone by turning out Rep. Alan Mollohan (who had served for 28 years) in favor of the more conservative state Sen. Michael Oliverio.
Although Oliverio took positions popular among Republicans such as opposing abortion and favoring the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, it was McKinley who had the endorsement in the fall of the National Right to Life Committee, the West Virginians for Life Political Action Committee, and the National Federation of Independent Business.
In a race that took until the afternoon after the election to count completely, McKinley eked out a win by 1,440 votes.
Lynn Staton, former state GOP vice chairman and wife of the late Rep. Mick Staton, R.-W. Va., may have best summed up the attitude of her fellow Republicans toward McKinley when she said: "I didn’t always agree with David but I always liked him and we got along just fine. That’s life."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.