[1] Snyder served as a Jefferson County Commissioner from 1990 to 1996, when he was elected to his first term in the State Senate.
He was reelected in 2000, defeating future Jefferson County Commissioner Greg Corliss.
In 2004, he was defeated in the primary by former Ranson, West Virginia, Mayor Greg Lance, who went on to lose the November election to Republican John Yoder.
After being elected to a fourth term in 2012, Snyder expressed interest in running for West Virginia's 2nd congressional district in 2014.
[1] The couple has six children, one of whom, Rod Snyder, is a former president of the Young Democrats of America.