“When I made the decision to run for public office, I did so because I firmly believe that my generation’s voice, fresh perspective and innovative ideas can help solve some of our state’s most challenging issues,” said Saira Blair to explain her bold decision to run for a seat on the West Virginia House of Delegates. Though her presence in the election shocked many, Saira was not afraid to share her ideas and push ahead with the campaign.

At 18 years of age, Saira is a well-spoken, cheerful, and passionate fiscal conservative. Her father is also involved in politics, serving as a West Virginia State Senator. In a live interview on “Fox and Friends,” Saira shared that being her father’s campaign manager taught her a lot of the useful skills she needed to make her campaign a success; clearly those techniques worked. She won sixty three percent of the votes, and she was elected into office earlier this month.

Blair stated, “I ran a very conservative platform. I am pro-life, pro-second amendment and pro-constitution because those are my uncompromising principles. Most importantly, I want to bring jobs to the state of West Virginia.” As a junior in high school she attended a youth leadership congress in which hundreds of student leaders were brought to Charleston, West Virginia, and she had the opportunity to draft a bill. She admits that she had never planned to run for office at such a young age, and she said that it was this “field-trip” opportunity that gave her confidence in her abilities and convinced her that she did not need to wait until an older age.

Before the election, Blair was studying at West Virginia University. Now, as the newest and youngest Republican to enter the West Virginia House of Delegates, she says that she will be taking the semester off to become accustomed to her new duties.

There are people who believe that she is too young to be making laws for the State of West Virginia and people who believe that her fresh perspective and insight to the younger generation will be extremely useful to the state. When it comes down to Blair being a role model for chasing your dreams no matter what, it does not matter which side of the argument people are on- her achievements are inspirational.