Moore Capito
CHARLESTON – Moore Capito has been nominated to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Also, Matt Harvey was nominated for the same job for the state’s Northern District. The nominations were announced July 1 by the White House.
Capito, a Republican, served in the House of Delegates from 2016 to 2023. He ran for governor last year, losing in the GOP primary to Patrick Morrisey.
He is the son of U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and the grandson of former Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr. He is the cousin of U.S. Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.)
Capito earned a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and a law degree from the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
According to his campaign website, Capito is a sixth generation West Virginian who labeled himself the “get-it-done” conservative “because he is the only one who has repeatedly turned good conservative ideas into effective public policy.”
Harvey
He currently is an attorney with Babst Calland in its Charleston office. He is a shareholder in the Corporate and Commercial, Emerging Technologies and Energy and Natural Resources groups of the firm, and he represents publicly-traded and privately-held clients in corporate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, as well as business structuring, governance, commercial contracts and real estate transactions.
The firm says he represents energy clients in various transactional matters of natural gas assets, joint developments, leasing and operations. He also regularly counsels clients in entity, joint venture and partnership structuring and formation as well as general business matters. And, he advises and counsels companies in navigating the complex legal landscape of emerging technologies, including data center development, ensuring projects are compliant with relevant laws and regulations.
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Capito served as in-house counsel for one of the largest independent oil and gas production and midstream companies in West Virginia and the Appalachian Basin.
Capito is married to commentator and Washington University Professor of Practice of Data Science Liberty Capito. He has two children from a previous marriage.
Harvey currently serves as prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County, and he also serves on the West Virginia First Foundation.
Both Capito and Harvey will have to be confirmed by a congressional vote.
Shelley Moore Capito praised the nominations in a social media post.
“Thrilled and extremely proud that @POTUS has chosen two stellar candidates to be West Virginia’s U.S. Attorneys, Matt Harvey in the Northern District and Moore Capito in the Southern District,” she posted on X, formerly Twitter. “I look forward to supporting their quick confirmations so they can get to work on behalf of West Virginia.”
Moore Capito also posted about his nomination on X.
“Very grateful to President Trump @POTUS for the honor of being nominated to serve in his historic administration as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia,” he posted. “President Trump’s commitment to law and order is making our state safer and stronger.”
In a statement, the state Democratic Party took issue with the timing of the announcement, which was made within minutes of the passage of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“Rumors are rampant that Senator Shelley Moore Capito is ready to trade her support for the bill in exchange for the appointment of her son, Moore Capito, to the powerful U.S. Attorney position in West Virginia,” the Democratic statement said.
“One has to wonder why Senator Capito would be such an enthusiastic cheerleader for a bill that is so devastating to West Virginia and its citizens,” West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin said in the statement. “One logical explanation is that she’s holding out for a deal … her vote in exchange for her son’s political advancement. If so, that’s not public service — that’s corruption.”
Sen. Capito voted for the bill.
“If Capito votes for this bill and her son ends up as U.S. Attorney, West Virginians will know exactly what happened,” Pushkin said. “Her vote — and our justice system — were put up for sale.”
