Election 2016 - WVPB Story Archives - Page 5 of 5 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Outside Groups Outspend 5 W.Va. High Court Hopefuls

In a crowded West Virginia Supreme Court contest, third-party groups are outspending the five candidates.Campaign finance reports show that outside groups…

In a crowded West Virginia Supreme Court contest, third-party groups are outspending the five candidates.

Campaign finance reports show that outside groups have spent $1.8 million, while candidates have spent $1.6 million combined through late April.

The Republican State Leadership Committee has bought $1.4 million in ads attacking Darrell McGraw and Bill Wooton, and supporting Beth Walker.

Just Courts for West Virginia PAC, a trial lawyers group, has spent $229,000 in ads attacking Walker.

Walker has spent $530,400 after receiving $500,000 in loans from her husband and raising $200,000.

Incumbent Justice Brent Benjamin has spent $481,300 and Wooton has spent $530,000. Both are using public campaign financing.

McGraw has spent $8,100 after raising $72,200. Wayne King has spent about $15,000.

The race is nonpartisan and will be decided on May 10.

Mixed Receptions for Bill Clinton in Logan, Charleston

Former President Bill Clinton made stops in West Virginia Sunday to campaign for his wife, Hillary, for president. Reactions to Clinton were noticeably different, as his stop in Logan was met with some opposition, while the crowd in Charleston was enthusiastic without criticisms or interjections from the audience.

The former president first stopped in Logan, where he was met with mixed reactions from the crowd. Some attendees cheered while others booed during introductory speeches from Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin.

Early Sunday, city officials in Logan sent Manchin’s staff an email stating the Clintons weren’t welcome in the town.

“Bill and Hillary Clinton are simply not welcome in our town. Mrs. Clinton’s anti-coal messages are the last thing our suffering town needs at this point,” the email reads in part.

“The policies that have been championed by people like Mrs. Clinton have all but devastated our fair town, and honestly, enough is enough. We wish them the best in their campaign, however we again state they are not welcome on our city properties. We hope that you will respectfully consider NOT visiting our community.”

Hillary Clinton took strong criticism in March for saying she was going to put a lot of coal companies out of business. She later apologized in a letter to Manchin, stating that she was mistaken for making that comment.

Bill Clinton won both the 1992 and 1996 general elections in West Virginia, first defeating George H. W. Bush and then Bob Dole.

The former president’s speeches focused mainly on revitalizing the economy in the state’s southern coalfields and issues related to addiction and substance abuse. He expressed sympathy while saying Hillary will address those issues.

“I know what you’re going through,” Bill Clinton said at the event in Logan.

Some protesters were escorted from the Logan event after shouting questions at the former president.

“We are not going to resolve this today,” Clinton said of the state’s economic woes and other issues facing West Virginia and the country.

Speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people in the state Capitol’s rotunda, Clinton’s later speech mirrored that of the one in Logan.

“I can hardly remember a time with so much promise and so much progress and yet people still are very worried,” he said.

Bill Clinton said his wife understands that economically depressed regions like Appalachia need a “special strategy” to revitalize themselves.

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear in West Virginia this week, with one stop slated for Williamson on Monday and an event Tuesday at an as-of-yet unannounced location.

Editor’s Note: For more on election coverage leading up to West Virginia’s May 10 primary, visit elections.wvpublic.org.

Clinton, Former President Heading to W.Va. for Campaign Events

Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton will make stops in West Virginia next week.

Clinton will kick off her ‘Breaking Down Barriers’ tour in Appalachia Monday with stops in Williamson and Ashland, Kentucky, will the former President will focus on Charleston and Logan Sunday.

The former Secretary will reportedly make a second stop in West Virginia Tuesday, but details about that event have not been released.

According to a press release from the campaign, the events will focus on jobs and the economy.

“I want you to keep imagining a tomorrow where instead of building walls, we are breaking down barriers,” Clinton said Tuesday, according to the release.

“We are making it more likely that Americans will be part of a prosperous, inclusive, decent society.”

The stops come less than a week after Democratic rival Bernie Sanders held a campaign rally in Huntington that drew more than 6,000 supporters.

Early Voting for West Virginia Primary Starts Today

West Virginia voters can begin heading to the polls to cast votes ahead of the May 10 primary election.

Early voting began Wednesday and runs through May 7. Polls will be open on Saturdays.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, there are 1.22 million registered voters in the state, with 47 percent registered as Democrats, about 30 percent registered as Republicans and 20 percent with no party affiliation.

Sanders Urges W.Va. Voters to Hit Polls Despite Losses in Four Primaries

Minutes after the polls closed in five states, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders took the stage in Huntington calling on West Virginia voters to join his “political revolution.”

By the end of the night, only one of the five states– Rhode Island– had swung in Sanders’s favor, allowing front runner Hillary Clinton to pull even further ahead in the race to the Democratic Party’s nomination.

Sanders spoke little of Clinton during his hour long speech. He referred to her support of trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Sanders said pushed thousands of American jobs overseas.

Sanders also referred to the well-oiled political machine that is the Clinton campaign, both of Hillary and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in the past.

The Vermont Senator shared his thoughts on income inequality and the unequal distribution of wealth with the estimated 6,000 people in attendance, pointing as he often does at the top 1 percent of income earners.

Calling it a controversial issue for the state, Sanders spoke frankly about climate change and the human induced causes he said he speaks with scientists across the country and around the world about.

Democratic Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders in Huntington.

“Number one, we have a moral obligation to our kids and future generations to make certain that we leave this planet in a way that is healthy and habitable,” Sanders said, “but second of all, we have a moral obligation to protect those workers in the fossil fuel industry.”

Sanders says workers in the coal, oil and natural gas industries cannot be left behind as the nation moves beyond an energy mix reliant on fossil fuels, and therefore, workers in those industries should receive the education and training they need for new careers.

Although early voting begins in West Virginia Wednesday, final ballots won’t be cast until the state’s May 10 primary.

“When there are large voter turnouts we win,” Sanders said as he has in many other election night stump speeches, “and when there is low voter turn out we lose.”

Sanders called on West Virginians to turn out in large numbers assuring a victory in the state, but a victory that may be inconsequential to the nomination after Tuesday when Clinton’s delegate count reached 90 percent of the total number she needs to take the party’s official support.

Editor’s Note: For more on election coverage leading up to West Virginia’s May 10 primary, visit elections.wvpublic.org.