Mick Bates

Politics Originally elected as a Democrat, Bates switched to the Republican Party in May 2021. In explaining the switch, Bates noted the dramatic increase in Republican voter registrations in Raleigh County — a 30 percent swing in the last three years — as part of the motivation for his party affiliation change. At the time, West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Belinda Biafore called Bates’ departure “surprising and disappointing.” Kessler supporters took out a billboard ad that featured a larger-than-life Australian kangaroo that was criticized by some as a negative campaign tactic.

Soothing an outcry from his own supporters, Bates embraced the icon of the Australian symbol and posed with toy kangaroos during his "Pick Mick" campaign. Bates told voters that he'd felt at home living in southern West Virginia, since his father and grandfather were both coal miners in Australia.

West Virginia Executive Magazine honoured Bates with the Young Gun Award in 2005, and he was named to the Generation Next Honoree 2006 list by The State Journal. In 2010, he was elected to the Raleigh Democratic Executive Committee and was chairman of the Beckley Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce in 2011.