Tag: Glenn Elliott

The US Senate Race And A Ghost Story, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., is not seeking reelection, which means residents are voting on his successor in the Nov. 5 general election.

On this West Virginia Morning, Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., is not seeking reelection, which means residents are voting on his successor in the Nov. 5 general election. The main-party candidates are Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, and Glenn Elliott, the Democratic former mayor of Wheeling.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to both Justice and Elliott for interviews. Justice’s office did not respond, but Elliott sat down with News Director Eric Douglas in the studio.

A former staff member for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Elliott recognizes he is an underdog for office both politically and geographically. But he told Douglas about his campaign so far, and what he would do if elected.

Plus, you never know where you might run across a ghost — or a good ghost story — in these West Virginia hills. Jim Lange, host of the radio show Eclectopia, spoke to Historic Shepherdstown Commission Museum Committee Chairman John Kavaliunas about a spooky tale from the Eastern Panhandle.

Also in this episode, we discuss a Libertarian candidate’s protest during this week’s gubernatorial debate, and ways to make Halloween more inclusive for children with disabilities.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Maria Young produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Justice Declines Debating Elliott In US Senate Race

Gov. Jim Justice has declined to debate former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, his Democratic opponent in the race for U.S. Senate.

“The people of this state know me,” Justice said during a virtual press briefing Thursday. “They know me and they know me really well.”

Justice said he has done “almost zero campaigning” for the race. He is the current frontrunner for the seat in a heavily red state.

“The race is over,” he said. “You know, we’re going to win the race.”

Justice’s refusal comes after Republican nominee and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey agreed to debate Democratic nominee and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams in the state’s gubernatorial race.

Elliott said he would be willing to debate Justice in a statement to West Virginia Public Broadcasting following Justice’s Thursday briefing.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Jim Justice has no interest in debating me,” Elliott said. “Frankly, he has shown very little interest in actually being governor, giving me no reason to believe his tenure as senator would be much different.”

However, both candidates responded to issue-based questions from Morgantown newspaper The Dominion Post in an article posted on Tuesday.

During his Thursday briefing, Justice referred to the Post’s interview as a “little debate.” While the two candidates were on the same Zoom call, they did not directly respond to each other.

The newspaper’s candidate Zoom invitations and interview rules use different terminology, describing the questions as “an interview, not a debate.”

Manchin Endorses Wheeling Mayor For US Senate Primary

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., endorsed Mayor of Wheeling Glenn Elliott for the Democratic primary election in this year’s race for the United States Senate.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has endorsed a potential successor in the race for his United States Senate seat.

Manchin released a video Monday announcing his support for Glenn Elliott, the current mayor of Wheeling, in West Virginia’s May 14 Democratic primary election.

“He has the determination, the vigor and vitality to do the work required to be successful in the U.S. Senate here in Washington, D.C.,” Manchin said. “He’ll show up every day to fight for West Virginia to create jobs, grow our economy and make a better life for our people.”

After serving as senator since 2010, Manchin announced he would not seek reelection last November, citing frustrations over a tense partisan divide in Washington.

Manchin’s decision opened the door for new Democratic candidates like Elliott, who are vying to represent their party in the November general election despite the state’s increasingly Republican base. Manchin is the only Democrat currently holding statewide office in West Virginia.

To secure a place in the state’s Nov. 5 general election, Elliott must defeat two opponents in the Democratic primary: former Marine Zach Shrewsbury and former coal executive Don Blankenship.

Elliott said he was “thrilled” by the endorsement, and that his reputation for “working across the aisle” and “getting things done” helped secure Manchin’s support.

“The senator has made very clear he thinks politics in Washington is broken. One of the advantages of being a mayor is — especially wherever a town like Wheeling is — you don’t really have the luxury of letting politics get broken,” he said. “You gotta get things done.”

With this fall’s general election looming, West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race has become a focal point for both the Democratic and Republican parties nationally.

Both chambers of the United States Congress are led by narrow partisan majorities, with Democrats leading in the Senate and Republicans leading in the United States House of Representatives.

Political analysts have predicted that West Virginia will likely flip to a Republican senator in this year’s general election, which would threaten the Democratic Party’s already tenuous Senate majority.

Elliott said that Manchin’s endorsement suggested that “he thinks I’m the best option to keep the Senate seat going forward.”

Now backed by Manchin, Elliott said he hopes his campaign will appeal to West Virginia voters seeking a candidate who can follow through on their needs in Washington.

“We need folks who have a record of getting things done and who are doers,” he said. “I certainly bring that experience and perspective to the race.”

Don Blankenship, Now A Democrat, Files To Run For U.S. Senate

Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, was convicted of violating federal mine safety law in a 2016 trial. Twenty-nine miners at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine were killed in 2010.

Convicted coal executive Don Blankenship has filed to run for U.S. Senate – as a Democrat.

The filing appeared Friday on the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.

Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, was convicted of violating federal mine safety law in a 2015 trial. Twenty-nine miners at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine were killed in 2010.

Blankenship tried unsuccessfully to appeal his conviction. He served a year in prison. He ran for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2018 and for president in 2020 on the Constitution Party ticket.

Two other Democrats have filed to run this year to succeed U.S. Sen Joe Manchin, who’s not seeking re-election. They are Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott and Marine Corps veteran Zach Shrewsbury.

The winner will face either Republican Gov. Jim Justice or Republican Rep. Alex Mooney in November. 

Dapper Rappers Celebrate Homegrown Hip-Hop in Wheeling

West Virginia’s small but active hip-hop community is striving to normalize hip-hop as an art form. The YWCA in Wheeling recently held an event called Hip Hop: A Black Tie Affair to help bring legitimacy to the community in the Northern Panhandle.  

 

 

Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who was one of about 175 people in attendance, said this event aims to break the mold of what is considered typical for West Virginia.

“An event like this, doesn’t fit any stereotype of what you’d think you’d experience in West Virginia,” Elliot said.

The event combined local art based in hip-hop culture, a DJ who played old hip-hop samples on vinyl for the duration of the event, and a video with rappers from around the Ohio Valley reciting freestyle verses.

One of the rappers featured in the video is Chermayne Davis, or as she’s known in the hip-hop community “Mz. NewYork”.  Davis was encouraged to see the crowd that came out to support homegrown hip-hop.

“It is a beautiful thing to tap into the different parts of Wheeling and the surrounding areas and get the love, and to feel that, to see it,” she said. “Everyone came out dipped in dapper, dressed to the nines for hip-hop.”

 

The classy dress code was intentional, said Ron Scott, the YMCA’s cultural diversity and community outreach director.

Scott, who also organized the event, said it was a way to bring something unexpected to the hip-hop celebration.

“The idea of blending elegance and hip-hop was big to me because I believe it gives it a level of maturity that I don’t believe hip hop has yet,  but we’re getting there,” he said.

The night capped off with a hip-hop tradition: the cypher. This is where rappers pass the mic around, and freestyle over beats that they haven’t heard before in what’s kind of a friendly competition.

HipHopCypher.mp3
Listen to the cypher.

It requires a lot of skill to be able to publicly spit out coherent rhymes that tell a story or comment on a given scenario, under pressure, but Davis said for her, nothing could be more natural.

 

She said when she freestyles her mind is clear.

 

“Like hip hop is a part of me,” Davis explained. “It’s coming from, like, my heart, and I don’t want to sound mushy like a Care Bear, but it’s coming from inside of me.”

According to Nielsen ratings, in 2017, hip-hop became America’s most consumed music genre. Young people across the country and across West Virginia have taken up rapping as a hobby, and there’s quite a bit of talent in the region.

Yet, it remains an underground artform that’s poorly embraced by the larger community here — if at all.  Scott said he hopes to change public perceptions with this event, and others like it.

“I love these artists,” he said. “I really love the work that they put into their craft. I like that I view it as a craft, as an art.  So they have to get acknowledged for that, and if I don’t, I don’t know who else will.”

Citizen's Police Review Board Requested for W.Va. City

Members of the West Virginia NAACP have requested the creation of a citizens’ police review board for one of the state’s largest cities.

News outlets report West Virginia NAACP President Owens Brown and the Wheeling NAACP proposed the creation of an independent board to analyze the Wheeling Police Department at Tuesday’s city council meeting. The board would be made up of local citizens from different religious and fraternal organizations.

Browns says he’s heard from community members who feel that police are stopping and harassing them, and that there’s no check on the department’s authority.

Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger says he created an office of professional standards within the department to investigate complaints.

Mayor Glenn Elliott says he’d speak to council members and city administrators to determine a response.

Exit mobile version