Cleve Benedict
A member of the Republican Party, he served one term in the United States House of Representatives for West Virginia's 2nd congressional district from 1981 to 1983.[1] As part of his undergraduate degree, Benedict wrote a senior thesis titled "The Rise of the Natural Sciences and their Impact upon Oxford and Cambridge.He was unsuccessful, although his campaign made great note of Byrd's record of high office in the Ku Klux Klan, his avoidance of service in World War II, and the fact that Byrd, then alone among members of Congress, owned no home in the state he represented.In 1988, he ran for statewide election as commissioner of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, winning by a large margin.He was a delegate to the 1996 Republican National Convention; however, he supported Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlotte Pritt, who had run against Benedict and Caperton in the 1992 governor's race.