All the country heard about was Blankenship losing the WV Senate primary, but there was a wave of progressive victories yesterday- on both the Democratic and Republican tickets.
Patrick Morrisey is a scumbag who is on the take from the pharma companies who started the opioid epidemic. He will have lots of money but he was not the candidate Joe Manchin was worried about. That would be Evan Jenkins, who gave up WV-03 to run for the Senate.
On the other side of the Senate race Paula Jean Swearengin, an unknown, unfunded progressive took 30% of the vote against Manchin. He is freaked and is trying to get a “Progressives for Manchin” group going. I will be glad to join but there are a few votes I need to see him make first…
In Jenkins’ WV-03 district Richard Ojeda cruised. Read what Mother Jones had to say about him yesterday. It’s all true- the guy is transforming WV politics. I was skeptical at first (the SOB voted for Trump!). But the teacher’s strike would not have happened without him. The medical cannabis bill would not have passed without him. He is now pushing to drastically raise extraction taxes on coal, oil, and natural gas; the exact opposite of what our Democratic leaders have been doing since Manchin became governor. Progressive candidates across the state are adopting his issues.
Ojeda’s opponent in the fall is a card-carrying member of the American Taliban. This one should be in the bag but Ojeda is not a great fundraiser. Consider dropping some money on him.
The biggest shock all night was Kendra Fershee winning in WV-01. She ran an unapologetically progressive campaign. Her main opponent, Ralph Baxter, had raised $400K and had the Democratic establishment drooling about him maybe taking out McKinley. Baxter followed the advice of his consultants and refused to take a stand on issues because he might irritate someone. He even attended a NOW meeting and refused to denounce the constitutional amendment banning abortion that is on the November ballot.
I was at Kendra’s watch party last night and everyone was giddy. Nobody really dislikes Baxter (we think he is a closeted progressive on social issues) and he really did bring thousands of good jobs to Wheeling. But his campaign was not what we wanted or needed.
Kendra has raised $60K and now needs to get much more. One problem that she has had is that Baxter was first in the race and had lined up most of the lawyers, who are the biggest Democratic donors in WV. Kendra is a law professor and should be able to turn that around quickly. She says that many of them told her that if she could beat Baxter they would open up their checkbooks. If you are interested in helping go here.
The biggest asshole Republican in the legislature, Robert Karnes, was defeated. My friends in the legislature were positively giddy about this. They say that Bill Hamilton is a reasonable person who they can work with (although we hope the Democrat, Laura FInch, wins). I was told labor spent $300,000 on this one.
Remember Lissa Lucas, who was dragged out of a Senate hearing when she started reading the list of fossil fuel donations to the Republican committee members? Karnes was the guy who ordered that. Lissa was unopposed in her Democratic house primary. I would suggest sending her money but Karnes helped her reach her goal of $3250 with $70,000 to spare. She has no idea what she is going to do with all of it. I asked if she had reported his actions as an in-kind donation on her campaign finance form but all I have heard in response is a few giggles.
Justin Hough, a Republican challenger who was endorsed by the WV Working Families Party, almost beat an incumbent delegate in one of the most Republican counties in the state. I am on the board of WV-WFP and read all of the candidate questionnaires that were submitted. Hough’s was one of the most progressive that I saw. There is a Democrat running so we hope we can win this one in the fall. But the lesson I learned is that sometimes in a deep red area the best progressive is a Republican.
Our Morgantown house district, HD-51, has five seats. Currently there are three Democrats and two Republicans, which is ridiculous for a university town. The three incumbent Democrats, Barbara Evans Fleischauer, John Wiliams, and Rodney Pyles, are running again. In addition we have two wonderful challengers, Evan Hansen and Danielle Walker (there was a sixth person on the ballot but he didn’t do anything). All five are fabulous but I want to highlight Danielle.
Danielle Walker was a single mother of two disabled boys in New Orleans when Katrina struck. She lost everything and was relocated to Morgantown by FEMA. Now she works three jobs to support herself, her boys, and her mother. Through Habitat for Humanity she got a house, which is why one of her main issues is affordable housing. When she filed for candidacy most people thought she was crazy- how could a poor, single, black woman be competitive in West Virginia? When she starts speaking they quickly change their minds. Watch what she said about Sexual Assault Month to get a feeling of what she can do.
Sara Anderson, the president of Mountaineers for Progress, lapped the field in our local school board race. This was non-partisan so she is in. As former president of MFP and a close friend I was especially pleased by this one. I wasn’t surprised, though- Sara is a professor in the WVU School of Education, has two kids in the school system, is articulate, and is a tireless worker.
There are many more stories. Democrats are contesting almost every race across the state for the first time in memory. It also appears that many Republicans are fed up with the crap that they have been voting for and are looking to take back their party from the extremists.