Congressional Republicans Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Endorsements, Affiliations Trump Issues In Second Congressional District Primary Race

Population decline reduced West Virginia’s congressional districts from three to two, pitting incumbent Republicans Alex Mooney and David McKinley against each other in the new Second Congressional District.With one week before the May 10th primary, endorsements and affiliations rather than debating the issues highlight this much-talked-about race.

With one week before the May 10th primary, endorsements and affiliations rather than debating the issues highlight this much-talked-about race.

John Kilwein, Chair of the West Virginia University Department of Political Science said both candidates are working from well established political playbooks.

McKinley went against party lines and voted yes on President Biden’s federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Kilwein said that action comes from the Robert C. Byrd playbook of “bringing home the bacon.”

He said Mooney cast his no vote on the infrastructure bill straight out of the President Trump/MAGA playbook that you never give a Democrat a victory.

Kilwein said this race could be a harbinger of Trump’s staying power, both statewide and nationally.

“I don’t want to predict anything with McKinley slightly ahead in the polls,” Kilwein said. “But it is possible this is either the first indication of Trump’s waning ability, or if Mooney wins, then you know that he’s still very strong.”

The two men also voted on opposite sides on the question of creating a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. McKinley was one of 35 Republicans to vote for creating the commission. Mooney was a solid no vote.

Kilwein called it another element in an “excellent juxtaposition” giving voters something to think about.

“When you go back and you look at these issues, I mean, they vote most of the time together,” Kilwein said. “ But it’s these two big, significant votes in the last year that make this race an interesting test.”

In the battle of endorsements, Gov. Jim Justice and Sen. Joe Machin support McKinley – and in a voter committed Trump state, Mooney touts his Trump endorsment.

Three other Republicans, Susan Buccher-Lochocki, Mike Seckman and Rhonda Hercules, are also on the primary ballot in the Second Congressional District race.

February 3, 1865: Governor Arthur Boreman Signs Legislative Act Banning Slavery in W.Va.

On February 3, 1865, West Virginia Governor Arthur Boreman signed a legislative act banning slavery in the state. A common misconception is that West Virginia entered the Union in 1863 as a free state.

However, in reality, it was the last slave state ever admitted to the Union. While most state founders wanted to allow slavery without restrictions, Congressional Republicans threatened to block West Virginia’s statehood efforts over the issue. A compromise, known as the Willey Amendment, provided for the gradual emancipation of most, but not all, slaves in the new state.

While slavery had existed in Western Virginia from the earliest days of settlement, it never prospered on a widespread basis. By 1860, Western Virginia was home to fewer than 20,000 slaves, compared to some half-a-million living in present-day Virginia. This disparity was due largely to Western Virginia’s rugged terrain, which produced small farms as opposed to the sprawling slave plantations of Virginia’s Tidewater region.

When West Virginia became a state, two-thirds of the slaves were concentrated in Jefferson, Berkeley, Kanawha, Hampshire, and Greenbrier counties. The new state was also home to nearly 3,000 free blacks.

U.S. Sen. Capito is Running for Reelection

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is running for reelection.

The West Virginia Republican announced the 2020 bid Thursday in a radio interview and on social media.

A Facebook video accompanying the announcement touted her accomplishments and her good relationship with President Donald Trump. She says she’s running “to protect our West Virginia values of faith, family and freedom.”

Capito served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected as a U.S. senator in 2014.

She became West Virginia’s first female in the Senate and its first Republican senator in about 55 years when she won her seat.

Her father, Arch A. Moore Jr., spent 12 years and three terms as the governor of West Virginia in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Senate Republicans Move Forward with Plans to Repeal the Affordable Care Act

President Obama met with Senate Democrats today to discuss strategies to save his signature health care law. Meanwhile Senate Republicans have already introduced a budget resolution that would unravel large pieces of the Affordable Care Act with a majority vote.

However, Republicans have yet to release a replacement plan, instead saying they will repeal, but delay implementation of the law for a couple years. Senate Democrats, including Joe Manchin, are concerned that if the law is repealed without a replacement lined up to take its place, hundreds of thousands of people could lose their health insurance.

“ I said if you’re willing in 2 or 3 years, you’ve been talking about it for 6 years, why don’t we sit down and fix it and vote on each one to fix it that way nobody loses anything,” said Manchin.

Manchin argues that while there are pieces of the healthcare law that need to be fixed, the bones of the law are good and hugely benefit West Virginians. Instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, he says, let’s introduce legislation that strengthens, rather than dismantles the law. However Manchin acknowledges that since President-elect Trump built part of his campaign around the cry “repeal the Affordable Care Act,” fixing it may not be a viable solution at this point.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.