Ashton Marra Published

Candidates for Governor Debate Taxes and Trump

Jim Justice and Bill Cole
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After an NPR investigation into Jim Justice’s business operations, the Democratic candidate for governor takes on Republican Bill Cole in the second West Virginia gubernatorial debate.

A leaked tape where Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump can be heard describing sexually assaulting women causes waves in West Virginia politics, but will either scandal swing the vote? 

Ann Ali, managing editor of the State Journal, and MetroNews Statewide Correspondent Brad McElhinney join us to discuss the race. 

It hasn’t been that long since the state Democratic Party rarely had to worry about the Republicans winning a race over their candidates, but in 2014, things really changed in West Virginia.

After 80 years of holding a Legislative majority, the Democrats lost their hold of both the state House and Senate and shifted the nation away from thinking of West Virginia as a solidly blue state. Anne Li took a deeper look at what happened leading up to the flip and whether voters’ feelings then will impact this year’s state legislative races.

J.B. McCuskey may be a familiar name to some folks in Charleston. A resident of the capital city, McCuskey was elected to represent the 35th House of Delegates District in 2012, but this year, he’s attempting to appeal to a much wider swath of the electorate.

McCuskey is the Republican running for Auditor, a statewide office left vacant this year when long-time Auditor Glen Gainer retired. McCuskey sat down with me in September to discuss his ideas for the office and the race that isn’t getting quite as much attention on a statewide scale.