For more than two hours, Raleigh County voters heard from candidates hoping to represent them at the county, state or federal level next year.
These 30-plus candidates were part of a Meet the Candidates event Thursday at Tamarack hosted by the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce.
Candidates were given a brief opportunity to introduce themselves before fielding questions from a panel made up of members of the media.
West Virginia Senate District 9
By far the most heated race at Thursday’s candidate event was the one for Senate District 9, where Sen. Rollan Roberts is defending his seat against Del. Mick Bates.
Roberts and Bates were the only candidates at the forum to field attacks from each other with Roberts criticizing Bates' recent switch to the Republican Party and Bates defending that move.
Senate District 9 encompasses all of Raleigh and Wyoming counties as well as the southern tip of Fayette County.
Bates said, “You know me, and you know what I'm about.”
He added that he has kept promises he made eight years ago when he first became a House delegate representing Beckley, including only staying in the House for eight years and putting Raleigh County back together in redistricting.
“You believed in me then and I'm asking you to believe in me again,” Bates said.
The media panel asked Bates how he expected to get the same voters who believed in him as a Democrat to believe in him as a Republican.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that I'm not a lifelong Republican,” Bates said. “I'm not a lifelong American ... I served proudly as a member of the Democratic Caucus for a number of years, but the party has moved away from me.”
As a Democrat, Bates said he was a modern conservative and as a Republican he is also a modern conservative.
“It's the extremes of the parties that are destroying this state and this country, and I believe that my party representation represents most clearly the values of the people that I represent in southern West Virginia,” he said. “I'm proud to be a Republican.”
Roberts said he is a pastor of 34 years, a teacher and dedicated member of the West Virginia Senate, serving since 2019.
“I am who I say I am; you don't have to wonder about me,” he said. “Everything's an open book and I haven't changed, flip-flopped, gone anywhere else. I'm the same person I always have been, and I will continue to do that.”
Roberts spoke about funds he has helped bring to his district, including $8.1 million for a veterans nursing home and $2 million for the new Raleigh County Salvation Army building.
Roberts said he has been endorsed by 19 West Virginia senators who want him back in the Senate. The Senate now has 11 Democrats and 23 Republicans.
He then brought attention to a brochure he had placed on the tables at the forum, which had an insert painting Bates as a socialist and a Biden supporter based on posts made on the Raleigh Progressives Facebook page.
The insert also had a screenshot of a Facebook post Bates made in 2016, which stated that he would be the MC for an “Old Fashion Family BBQ” hosted by the Raleigh Progressives.
Roberts said this showed that Bates supported this group.
In an interview with The Register-Herald after the event, Roberts said he was forced to go on the offensive because he was “publicly slandered” by Bates and those who support his campaign.
Roberts said the worst of these attacks was a billboard paid for by the Center on Budget and Policy, which has an illustration of Roberts in a car with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and says, “Senator Rollan Roberts voted for the nation’s highest state sales tax, even higher than California.”
Roberts said the billboard is 100 percent false and was soon taken down. He then pointed to an article from 2021 when Bates announced his switch to the Republican Party.
“He said, I haven't changed. I haven't changed. But his entire campaign is nothing like what he has done for eight years. The entire campaign,” Roberts said. “So I feel it important for me to have to say the truth.”
Bates responded that he has tried to stay solely focused on the issues.
“But there are outside groups and other people that are in play in this,” Bates said in an interview with The Register-Herald after the event. “I think that what I'm saying and doing is resonating with people, and I have momentum. And when you're failing, and you're behind, what you do is you attack your opponent.”
Bates added that he thinks Roberts is “wrong for Raleigh County” and he intends to correct all the false statements Roberts makes about him.
“'I’ve not made this about him and me,” Bates said. “I've made this about who is best equipped for Raleigh, Wyoming, Fayette counties. We need to focus on the future, not the past.”
West Virginia House of Delegates District 41
House District 41 has two candidates running; both are Republicans: incumbent Del. Jordan Maynor and Greg Shamblin.
Maynor was appointed to the House in August after Jeffrey Pack resigned.
District 41 extends to parts of Raleigh County south of Interstate 64. It also stretches north to include northern and southwestern portions of Summers County as well as northern portions of Mercer County.
Only Maynor was present Thursday.
Maynor said he has been “fighting for conservative principles” his entire life, having previously worked for former Congressman Evan Jenkins.
Maynor said the issue of jobs is a population issue.
“We've got to reverse the trends that have been happening in West Virginia for so long,” he said.
Maynor said that can be accomplished by cutting taxes.
West Virginia House of Delegates District 42
The race for House District 42 has only one candidate and was not mentioned at the event.
Incumbent Republican Del. Brandon Steele is running unchallenged for District 42, which includes the southern part of Raleigh County.
West Virginia House of Delegates District 43
Three candidates are seeking to represent House District 43.
Republican Christopher Toney of Beckley is seeking reelection for a seat he has held since being elected in 2018.
His challengers are Republican Kase Poling and Democrat JoAnna Vance, who are also both from Beckley.
District 43 is in the northwestern corner of Raleigh County, stretching from Dorothy in the northern part of the county to Glen Daniel. It also juts out into Wyoming County to include Oceana and Glen Rogers.
Facing off in the primary will be Republicans Poling and Toney.
Poling said the state has “amazing potentional” but it needs “leaders who can have vision and bring that potential out.”
When asked about how the state can support and incentivize new businesses, Poling said the state should make regulations more friendly.
He said federal partnerships are important as well as the promotion of the national park, which has attracted even more tourists since its new designation.
Toney talked about the jobs he has helped bring to the district.
Toney said that one of the major problems for his district is reliable internet and cell phone coverage, pointing out that where he lives in Beckley, he does not get cell service.
He added that, during his three and a half years in office, the most important thing he has done is bring jobs, and he plans to continue to do that if reelected.
In addition to being a mother and a wife, Vance, the only Democratic candidate, said she is also a “person in long-term recovery from substance use disorder.”
Vance said she is not a career politician but has long been passionate about working on the issues that face her district and the state including transportation, affordable health care, paid leave, criminal justice reform and solutions to the long-standing addiction crisis.
“'I’m a community organizer and I know that the people who are closest to the problem are closest to the solution,” she said. “That's where we're going to find our answers at are the people who have been there and the people who have gone through it.”
West Virginia House of Delegates District 44
Five of the six candidates running for House District 44 were present Thursday.
The list has three Republicans – Todd Kirby, Tom Moseley and Ann Worley – and three Democrats – Tony O. Martin, Mark Montgomery and Russell “Rusty” Wooton.
Only Kirby was not present at the candidate event.
District 44 mainly encompasses the city of Beckley and is being represented by Bates, who is running for the Senate District 9 race.
Starting it off for the Republicans was Moseley. He said that while people keep talking about attracting more people to West Virginia, the state must first “stop government waste” and “throwing money into projects that give us no work.”
He said those funds should instead be invested into people by lowering taxes and making wages more competitive.
When asked about recovery and addiction solutions, Moseley said city programs need to be in place that help fight opioid addictions.
“We have no programs in place,” he said. “If you look into larger-scale cities, they have programs to fight opioid addiction ... You go into a work program. You actually work in the city, in the state, in the county and build yourself up and then go into a job. We don't have those projects yet, and we desperately need them, and that's the only way we can combat that.”
One of Moseley’s Republican challengers will be Worley, a Beckley native, substitute teacher, mother and former Beckley City Council member of 16 years.
“Through my extensive civic and community leadership roles in my vast experience working with local leaders and Beckley citizens, I have the confirmed ability, passion and political judgment to provide the leadership essential to move us progressively forward,” she said.
In response to a question about what can be done to help small businesses, Worley said services should be expanded to those coming in for remote working jobs.
She added that legislatures need to work together on issues like these.
Worley also commented that instead of bringing hundreds of new bills to the floor each session, legislatures should key in on previous bills of importance that may not have passed and work on improving those to be reintroduced later.
On the Democrat side, Martin said he knows what the residents of Beckley are most concerned about because he has been knocking on their doors and asking them that very question for 10 years.
“What they've told me is our neighborhoods,” said Martin, who previously ran for Beckley mayor. “(They say,) I want to feel safe on the streets. We need new opportunities for our children to learn and grow here. That's why I'm running for the House of Delegates. Because I'm tired of waiting.”
Martin said that while bringing jobs to Beckley is important, it starts by making the city a great place to live.
He added that the pandemic has proved that West Virginia is an attractive place to live and visit and he wants to make sure that those people say the same thing about Beckley.
“At the end of the day, we have so much talent here and we need to start investing in that talent,” he said.
Montgomery said he’s not a politician, he’s a country boy from Edwight, in Raleigh County.
Despite being a retired teacher, due to the teacher shortage, Montgomery said he’s working in a long-term substitute position with Raleigh County Schools.
“I think we all have to keep in mind, all of us up here running for the House, we're one person now in one district delegates, 1 percent,” he said. “So you better go to the legislature in the idea of forming relationships.”
Questions from the media panel to Montgomery were all education-related. In addition to being asked about how he would address the teacher shortage, Montgomery was also asked about his opinion on critical race theory.
“I've been a history teacher,” he said. “I think we need to teach history and lay out the facts. I think the biggest issue we're having is some teachers like to throw their opinion in there about it and I was never one to do that ... I don't think we should leave anything out, no matter what it is. I know I didn't.”
To entice more teachers in West Virginia, Montgomery said the state first needs to “stop bashing public education.” He added that programs already in place that make it easier for retired people with four-year degrees to teach in West Virginia schools are great and helping the teacher shortage issue already.
Wooton is a Beckley native and owner of Wooton Law, PLLC, where he has practiced law since graduating from law school at West Virginia University.
Wooton said he is focused on supporting businesses, supporting teachers and workers and “creating an environment where you can afford to raise your family as you wish.”
Wooton said support for public education also goes hand in hand with supporting businesses.
“I think when new businesses are coming in and you're wanting to bring new people in, any young family is looking for an environment where their kids are going to be educated,” he said. “So I think one of my first priorities as a legislature would be to help the public education system.”
As part of supporting local schools, Wooten said schools need to have improved internet and more investment made into their athletic programs and the arts.
West Virginia House of Delegates District 45
In District 45, incumbent Republican Del. Kayla Kessinger, who had risen to be an assistant majority leader, is not seeking reelection.
Those vying to fill Kessinger's seat are three Democrats – Joseph Golden of Stanaford, Christian Martine of Beaver and Kevin Walker of Mount Hope – and Republicans Eric Brooks of Mount Hope and former Raleigh County Commissioner Ron Hedrick of Beaver.
House District 45 is a new district created at the end of 2021 during required redistricting. It includes a lower section of Fayette County as well as the northeastern portion of Raleigh County, stretching north from Interstate 64.
All the candidates with the exception of Walker were present Thursday.
Brooks, a Republican, said he was born in Raleigh County but raised in Wyoming County. He said he recently retired from working at the federal prison in Beckley after 26 and a half years.
As someone with experience working in a prison, Brooks was asked by the media panel what can be done about alarming reports coming out of Southern Regional Jail that include the abuse of inmates and inadequate medical care.
Brooks said he’s unfamiliar with how the state-run prisons work, having only worked in a federal prison, but said if these issues stem from a lack of funding, he knows he could work to fix that.
He said that having municipalities put funds into the local jails, instead of just counties, could help with funding issues.
“As far as the treatment provided, we'd have to look into it and see exactly what's going on and why there's an issue there,” Brooks said. “Could be an overcrowding issue. It's obviously a state responsibility. Ultimately, when we set up a regional jail system, it's ultimately the state responsibility to enact proper treatment and proper care. I know we had, at the federal system, provided extremely great care to the inmates that are incarcerated with us.”
Next up was Hedrick, a Republican and a retired master sergeant from the U.S. Army as well as chairman of the housing authority in Raleigh County in addition to being involved in a number of other boards and organizations.
Questions to Hedrick from the media panel were all about services to veterans like himself which have been jeopardized thanks to a recent report from the Veterans Administration’s Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission, which recommended closing the Beckley VA Medical Center.
Hedrick said he’s already experienced a loss of services that are available to him at the Beckley VAMC and the only way to prevent any more is to have the cities, counties and state come together.
“It's gonna take the community to do that, obviously. It's a grassroots thing,” he said. “It's going to start from the towns, from the mayors, from the local commissioners. We're gonna have to start from the bottom and build that thing up to save these facilities.”
Hedrick said that is what he would bring to the seat in District 45, the ability to work with others, whether they be Republican or Democrat, to get things done.
Martine said he wants to create a better state for his future children to grow up in.
Martine said he was one of many West Virginians who left to find work elsewhere after school but was fortunate enough to also be brought back to his home state by a job.
To entice others in his same position to come back and to keep those already here, Martine said there needs to be more investment in public schools, high-speed broadband and help for families struggling to pay for things like child care and medication.
“What I'm really focused on is how we make West Virginia that place where people want to come to and people want to stay,” he said.
Martine said he wants to work with small businesses, vocational schools and community colleges to “curate curriculums that ensure that if a student is going through those programs, after two or four years, they have a job waiting for them on the other end.”
Challenging Martine in the primary is Golden, who has been a family physician in Fayette County for 40 years.
Golden says he knows all too well about the challenges people face from high copays to losing health insurance to grandparents raising grandchildren on a low income.
He added that there is also a vast essential worker shortage in public schools, hospitals, emergency services, child protective services and more.
His proposed solution to this was a student loan reduction plan for these essential workers who can commit to staying and working in West Virginia for five years. Golden said his plan would cost the state anywhere from $20 million to $30 million, which he believed was affordable.
Golden said his plan would “help attract and recruit and retain the necessary professionals we need to support our health and our well-being in the community.”
U.S. House of Representatives District 1
Four of the six candidates running for U.S. House of Representatives District 1 were present Thursday.
Five Republicans are running for this seat: incumbent Carol Miller, Scott Fuller, James Edwin Houser, Zane Lawhorn and Kent Stevens.
The only Democrat to file for this race was Lacy Watson.
Fuller and Houser were not present Thursday.
