Pushkin's family arrived from Eastern Europe, most likely from Russia, in the late nineteenth century and settled in Charleston. Pushkin is the son of a doctor who worked at the Charleston Area Medical Center. Pushkin started playing drums at the age of eight and switched to guitar at 13. He attended The Hill School for a year. He enrolled at West Virginia University and planned to attend law school. He left school before finishing and started using drugs, which accelerated into addiction after his father's death in 1993.
Career
In 2002, Pushkin moved from Morgantown to Charleston and started working as a taxi driver, but continued to fight his addiction and was fired. He was rehired after attaining sobriety, which he maintains.
Taxi driver
As a taxi driver, he sees a side of Charleston oblivious to many politicians and has been held at gunpoint. He sometimes serves as a designated driver for his legislative colleagues.
Musician
Pushkin is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 136. His current band is a five member ensemble known as 600 Lbs of Sin! which takes its name from a Grateful Dead song. Many of his original songs are political in content, in response to coal mining or environmental issues. His most famous song is a reaction to the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, a 2010 mine collapse. Pushkin taxied reporters to the site of the mine and was moved to sadness by the plight of miners. More recently, he has played in a new band, “Mike Pushkin and the Loyal Opposition”. As a musician, he often covers the Grateful Dead and has played Country Roads at rallies.
Pushkin has developed a reputation for providing an independent voice on bills. He opposed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which gives businesses the right to decline to serve gay customers. In his first term, he introduced the Second Chance for Employment Act, which provides the opportunity for felons to have their records cleared after 10 years. He also unsuccessfully introduced a bill to legalize recreational marijuana during his first term. He reintroduced the Second Chance bill during his second term and the bill passed when a compromise was reached that would expunge misdemeanors, not felonies. He fought to successfully pass the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act, thanks to support Pushkin secured from his Libertarian colleagues. In 2018, Pushkin was a staunch proponent of the succssful impeachment of the Supreme Court of West Virginia. Pushkin wrote the original resolution to initiate impeachment proceedings back in February. He was one of the first legislators to push for an investigation into Justice Loughry for his personal use of state property and the subsequent cover-up. In 2018, Pushkin was a vocal supporter of the efforts to give teachers a pay raise and improve wages in the public sector.
Personal life
On September 3, 2004, he started attending Narcotics Anonymous and became sober, which he maintains to this day. He is married. Pushkin is the only Jewish member of the West Virginia legislature.
