Braydan Goff
From Ballotpedia
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Braydan Goff (Republican Party) is running for election to the West Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 34. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on May 12, 2026.
Goff was an officeholder of the Mingo County Schools, At-large in West Virginia.
Goff completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Braydan Goff was born in Huntington, West Virginia. He earned a high school diploma from Tug Valley High School. He earned an associate degree from Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College in 2023. He has served as the chairman of the Mingo County Young Republicans and the secretary of the West Virginia Federation of Young Republicans. Goff has been affiliated with the West Virginia Federation of Young Republicans, Mingo County Young Republicans, and Turning Point USA.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: West Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on May 12, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 34
Tara Sexton (D) is running in the Democratic primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 34 on May 12, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Tara Sexton | ||
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary
Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 34
Braydan Goff (R), James Harless (R), Barry Marcum (R), and John White (R) are running in the Republican primary for West Virginia House of Delegates District 34 on May 12, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Braydan Goff | ||
| James Harless | ||
| Barry Marcum | ||
| John White | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Braydan Goff completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Goff's responses.
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My name is Braydan R. Goff, and I am a younger candidate looking to fill the seat of a respectable delegate. I am 21 years old, and I served as the youngest school board member in the state during my tenure. I was elected at 19 years old to the Mingo County Board of Education. From there, I began to dabble in partisan politics, founding and becoming Chairman of the Mingo County Young Republicans and now serving as the Secretary for the West Virginia Federation of Young Republicans.
- I will fight for our area and the rest of southern West Virginia. We often require funding that we deserve to receive here in Mingo and McDowell Counties as far as utilities are concerned, and I won't be afraid to stand up to ensure that we are included in state budgets to improve our area.
- As someone who was originally going into education, I value the field and will fight for our children's education. West Virginia falls short compared to the rest of the country in terms of education, and it is time that we get to the bottom of the issue and improve our education system.
- I believe that West Virginia is a beautiful state with many hidden gems. I will strive to ensure that economic opportunity is provided everywhere in our great state and that we better ourselves, especially in southern West Virginia, so that we can take full advantage of the resources that God has given us.
Social policy. I am a staunch Christian conservative and feel it is my duty to protect our Appalachian and family values here in West Virginia. We have something very special in our way of life compared to the rest of the country, and we should valiantly defend it.
I look up to my father. He is an amazing person, and I can never grow into a fraction of how good a man he is.
One must have integrity, morality, principles, and transparency in order to be an effective leader and representative.
The core responsibilities for someone elected to this office are to accurately represent the constituents of the district and ensure that the people of West Virginia are put first in every decision made.
I would like to leave behind a legacy that demonstrates to the youth how to get into politics, and I would love to leave behind a legacy of improving our state in all regards.
I vaguely remember the 2012 election. I was 7 years old, so of course I didn't have much of a view on it, but I sure heard much discussion about it and tried to piece together what reasoning I could regarding it.
My very first job was as a substitute teacher. I happened to get an associate's degree in high school through an early college program, so I signed on to be a substitute teacher in the adjacent Pike County, Kentucky. My job never technically ended, and I often consider picking up substitute teaching again once I complete my bachelor's degree.
The Bible, of course. I learn something new every time I look at it or talk about it.
Outside of the Bible, I enjoy reading just about anything in the political science or history genre.
Outside of the Bible, I enjoy reading just about anything in the political science or history genre.
The ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature would be the governor setting a straightforward tone and an agenda, using his executive authority in a manner that ensures no boundaries are overstepped when it comes to the will of the people. The legislature, in turn, will project the will of the people in a way that seeks overlapping ideas with the governor's agenda and what the people desire as a means to be an efficient and working body.
The state's greatest challenges over the next decade will be breaking the mentality on the idea that we are last in the country in everything. Too many people see our poverty rate, educational ranking, and other negative aspects of our state as reasons to move out or give up. We must turn around this narrative and form policies that will break the mold and ensure our state can project its full potential to the rest of the nation.
Yes, it is beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government and/or politics. If one has not participated in either before, it may take much time that could be spent thinking of bills, having productive discussions, etc., on simply learning the ins and outs of the government and the political climate.
Of course, it is beneficial to build relationships with other legislators. These are people whom you will be working with. Relationships lead to communication, which leads to good teamwork. Good teamwork is a key aspect in running an efficient governing body.
I am powerless in God's plan.
There are countless stories within my district regarding utilities and how many people's day-to-day lives were negatively impacted due to outages, unclean water, and so on. Being in an area where I am also affected by such things, this sticks with me constantly in terms of things that need to be fixed within my district.
Yes. Emergency powers can be an effective tool if used properly and legally. It would make sense that the legislature, which represents the people of West Virginia, would oversee and grant the use of such power.
I would work with my fellow legislators to come up with a bill to expand and improve water, sewage, electrical, broadband, and transportation infrastructure within Southern West Virginia.
I cannot ensure that this will be the first bill I can get passed, but it will definitely be the first thing I work on.
I cannot ensure that this will be the first bill I can get passed, but it will definitely be the first thing I work on.
A state ballot initiative process would be good for the state. I am unsure of how the details of the process would work if conceived, but I am certain that a form of this concept would greatly benefit West Virginia.
I am proud to be one of the youngest elected officials in Mingo County.
I would enact and support any policy related to the idea of ensuring election integrity to the highest degree. For the most part, I would support anything that ensured only U.S. citizens and residents of the state were voting in our local and state elections.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 29, 2025
Current members of the West Virginia House of Delegates
Leadership
Minority Leader:Sean Hornbuckle
Representatives
District 1
Pat McGeehan (R)
District 2
Mark Zatezalo (R)
District 3
Jimmy Willis (R)
District 4
Bill Flanigan (R)
District 5
Shawn Fluharty (D)
District 6
Jeffrey Stephens (R)
District 7
Charles Sheedy (R)
District 8
Bill Bell (R)
District 9
Vacant
District 10
District 11
Bob Fehrenbacher (R)
District 12
Vernon Criss (R)
District 13
Scot Heckert (R)
District 14
Dave Foggin (R)
District 15
Erica Moore (R)
District 16
Joe Parsons (R)
District 17
Jonathan Pinson (R)
District 18
Jim Butler (R)
District 19
Kathie Crouse (R)
District 20
Sarah Drennan (R)
District 21
Jarred Cannon (R)
District 22
Daniel Linville (R)
District 23
Evan Worrell (R)
District 24
Patrick Lucas (R)
District 25
Sean Hornbuckle (D)
District 26
Matthew Rohrbach (R)
District 27
Michael Amos (R)
District 28
Ryan Browning (R)
District 29
Henry Dillon (R)
District 30
Jeff Eldridge (R)
District 31
District 32
Josh Holstein (R)
District 33
Jordan Bridges (R)
District 34
Mark Dean (R)
District 35
Adam Vance (R)
District 36
S. Green (R)
District 37
Marty Gearheart (R)
District 38
Joe Ellington (R)
District 39
Doug Smith (R)
District 40
Roy Cooper (R)
District 41
Jordan Maynor (R)
District 42
John Jordan (R)
District 43
District 44
Carl Roop (R)
District 45
Eric Brooks (R)
District 46
Jeff Campbell (R)
District 47
Denny Canterbury (R)
District 48
Gregory Watt (R)
District 49
Stanley Adkins (R)
District 50
David Pritt (R)
District 51
Marshall Clay (R)
District 52
Tresa Howell (R)
District 53
Tristan Leavitt (R)
District 54
Mike Pushkin (D)
District 55
JB Akers (R)
District 56
Kayla Young (D)
District 57
Hollis Lewis (D)
District 58
Walter Hall (R)
District 59
Andy Shamblin (R)
District 60
Dana Ferrell (R)
District 61
Dean Jeffries (R)
District 62
Roger Hanshaw (R)
District 63
District 64
Adam Burkhammer (R)
District 65
Carl Martin (R)
District 66
Jonathan Kyle (R)
District 67
District 68
Chris Phillips (R)
District 69
Keith Marple (R)
District 70
Mickey Petitto (R)
District 71
Laura Kimble (R)
District 72
Clay Riley (R)
District 73
Bryan Smith (R)
District 74
Guy Ward (R)
District 75
Phil Mallow (R)
District 76
Rick Garcia (D)
District 77
Joe Statler (R)
District 78
Eugene Chiarelli (R)
District 79
Evan Hansen (D)
District 80
John Williams (D)
District 81
Anitra Hamilton (D)
District 82
David McCormick (R)
District 83
George Street (R)
District 84
D.R. Jennings (R)
District 85
John Paul Hott (R)
District 86
Bryan Ward (R)
District 87
Gary Howell (R)
District 88
Rick Hillenbrand (R)
District 89
David Cannon (R)
District 90
George Miller (R)
District 91
Ian Masters (R)
District 92
Michael Hite (R)
District 93
Michael Hornby (R)
District 94
Larry Kump (R)
District 95
Charles Horst (R)
District 96
Lisa White (R)
District 97
S. Anders (R)
District 98
Joe Funkhouser (R)
District 99
Wayne Clark (R)
District 100
William Ridenour (R)
Republican Party (90)
Democratic Party (9)
Vacancies (1)
