Governor's Race Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Campaign Donors In Primary Race For Governor Spark Voter Attention

There’s more to glean from a candidate’s campaign financial reports than the amount of money raised. Who and where the contributions come from can spark voter alerts.

There’s more to glean from a candidate’s campaign financial reports than the amount of money raised. Who and where the contributions come from can be a reason for voter alerts.

Third quarter campaign finance reports in the West Virginia governor’s race show the four leading candidates, all Republican, raised nearly $1.2 million combined. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey accounted for nearly half that amount.

Marybeth Beller, Marshall University associate professor of Political Science, looked closely at in-state versus out-of-state contributions. She noted that of the two front-runners, 57 percent of Del. Moore Capito’s donations came from West Virginia donors, while 83 percent of Morrisey’s donors come from out-of-state. Beller said voters should pay attention to that.

“Voters need to really be wary, no matter who the candidate is, if the bulk of that candidate’s support is coming from outside the state,” Beller said. “What did those out-of-state interests have? And what are they trying to get from the gubernatorial position in West Virginia?”

The quarterly reports list donors that have given contributions under $250. Each donation is counted separately, creating multiple donations from single sources.

Beller noted that among the four leading candidates, businessman Chris Miller had 78 donations under $250, with just four multiple donations.

Secretary of State Mac Warner listed 281 individuals donating under $250 with 17 multiples. Capito had 322 individual donations with 25 multiple donors.

Morrisey reported 21,990 individual donations, with most from donors that contributed small amounts multiple times. Beller said this counting system can skew campaign ads.

“Morrisey can say in his ads that he has nearly 22,000 people contribute individual donations,” Beller said. “What would be misleading is for the audience to think that that meant they were individual donors. Most of those are recurring donations.”

Beller said that unlike his competitors, where most contributors list their address and occupation, the bulk of Morrisey’s contributors are unidentified.

“I would urge the Secretary of State’s office to really investigate those disclosures,” Beller said. “I think the public deserves to know where these contributions are coming from for all of the candidates.”

W.Va. Campaign Finance Reporting For Governor’s Race

With more than 10 months until the May, 2024 primary elections, several West Virginia candidates for governor have campaign fundraising operations in full swing.

With more than 10 months until the May 2024 primary elections, several West Virginia candidates for governor have campaign fundraising operations in full swing.

The deadline for quarterly campaign finance reports turned into the Secretary of State’s office was this past Friday.

Fundraising numbers this early will show tiers of support and resources that candidates use to develop their campaigns.

Gov. Jim Justice is up against term limits and running for U.S. Senate, setting up a wide field of Republican gubernatorial candidates, no Democrat has announced as of yet.

In the race for governor, Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, reported raising $1.3 million for the second quarter 2023 fundraising period.

Morrisey reported spending $294,386 on his campaign so far overall – and has $1,084,305 cash still on hand.

House Judiciary chairman Del. Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, is running for governor. The son of U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., reported $288,329 in contributions during the period. Capito has raised a little more than $1 million overall and has spent about $124,000 leaving him with a little more than $948,000 on hand.

Republican auditor and gubernatorial candidate J.B. McCuskey reported $120,374 in contributions over the period. Reports show his campaign has brought in $648,233 overall, spending $236,247, leaving $412,082 available.

Republican Secretary of State Mac Warner, a candidate for governor, reported raising a little more than $96,000 during the reporting period. Warner reported raising more than $324,689 overall so far, and spent more than $125,313 — leaving $194,509 cash on hand.

The first to get into the governor’s race was auto dealer Chris Miller. He’s the Republican son of U.S. Rep. Carol Miller. His second quarter campaign fundraising numbers are not yet on the SOS website. A press release from Miller announced raising over $3.8 million since the start of the campaign, with 93 percent of contributions coming from within West Virginia. The release said Miller now has nearly $3.5 million cash on hand after raising $316,182 last quarter.

According to a recent poll sponsored by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, frontrunners Morrisey and Capito are neck and neck. The poll shows Morrisey at 31 percent and Capito at 30 percent. Mac Warner had nine percent, Chris Miller had five percent, J.B. McCuskey had three percent, while five percent said they would support another candidate and 17 percent were unsure.

WVU Political Science Department Chair John Kilwein said early fundraising numbers don’t necessarily go hand in hand with early polling numbers.

“Chris Miller raised just over $600,000, but there’s only a five percent poll showing,” Kilwein said. “That comes from a name but as a representative number, that’s a little bit surprising. It’s also surprising to me that Mac Warner is only nine percent in the poll and raised just over $300,000.”

Rashida Yost, a Republican candidate for governor from Martinsburg, raised $8,100 during the period. Yost has $8,593 on hand overall.

Former Republican delegate Marshall Wilson, running for governor under the America Coming Together party, reports $915 on hand.

Kilwein said candidate campaign expenditures at this time in the election cycle become geared to raising poll numbers incrementally.

“If you do have that money in your back pocket as the Chamber’s first polling is the first cut, it is just a snapshot,” Kilwein said. “If you do have $600,000, you’re going to try to get your name out there and try to bump that 5 percent up to double digits, and get into those two frontrunners.”

West Virginia’s 2024 primary election is May 14.

UMWA Endorses Ben Salango For W.Va. Governor

The United Mine Workers of America is endorsing Democratic candidate Ben Salango for West Virginia governor.

According to UMWA President Cecil Roberts, 80 active and retired miners voted unanimously to support Salango on Monday.

Almost five years ago, the UMWA announced a similar endorsement of Salango’s opponent, Gov. Jim Justice.

“Had Gov. Justice been running against Ben Salango, we would’ve endorsed Ben Salango,” Roberts said during a virtual press conference Tuesday afternoon. “We would’ve felt then like we do now, that Ben Salango would’ve made a better governor than the governor we have now.”

Justice was running as a Democrat at the time against Republican Bill Cole.

Justice, a Greenbrier County billionaire whose family owns several mining operations, announced at a Trump rally in 2017 he was changing political parties.

Today, Justice-owned companies owe millions in environmental and labor-related fees and lawsuits. That includes roughly $4 million in delinquent debt for safety violations in 2019, according to a report from the Ohio Valley Resource. The Justice family agreed to pay more than $5 million in fines to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration in April.

ProPublica reported in May that the UMWA sued Justice in 2019 after the Justice companies stopped paying for retired miners’ health insurance plans. ProPublica also reports that the governor has paid more than $128 million in legal settlements.

Justice campaign manager Roman Stauffer said in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon that the governor “isn’t a politician and won’t engage in partisan politics.”

Throughout Justice’s time as governor, Stauffer said grants that the UMWA Career Center has received through the West Virginia Development Office – including a $369,000 grant in 2020, awarded quarterly – demonstrates Justice’s support for the union.

Roberts said Tuesday endorsing Salango had nothing to do with political parties, adding the UMWA also has endorsed Republican candidates for the 2020 election, due to the candidates’ support of legislation in Congress that will protect miners’ pensions and retiree health care. Such endorsements include U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Rep. David McKinley.

“Anybody that lives in West Virginia realizes there’s been a struggle now for 10 years, with bankruptcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy,” Roberts said. “Workers’ pensions, workers’ health care, workers’ jobs are on the line every time one of those bankruptcies occurs.”

The UMWA announced Tuesday it’s also endorsing Democratic candidate Sam Petsonk for attorney general. Petsonk was a legal intern with the UMWA in the mid-2000s. He’s running against Republican incumbent Patrick Morrisey.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

‘WV Can’t Wait’ Candidates Against Corporate Campaign Contributions File For Office

The area outside the West Virginia House of Delegates chamber was filled Saturday morning with t-shirts and buttons from various election campaigns throughout the state. Several people wore red bandanas, symbolic of the West Virginia miner strikes and the state’s rich labor history.

At the front of the room, behind the House doors, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stephen Smith and several others running for office this year shared their movement’s progressive platform.

Smith is at the forefront of WV Can’t Wait, a political movement that features more than 70 candidates poised to race in elections all over the state. Those in the group have signed a pledge, promising not to accept corporate donations in their campaigns.

Not all of the candidates who have signed the pledge have also signed the platform Smith shared Saturday.

Many of those candidates were in Charleston Saturday morning to officially file with the Secretary of State’s office for office.

WV Can’t Wait candidates filed for office with the Secretary of State on Jan. 18, 2020.

“We know that politicians don’t write history. Movements do,” Smith told rally attendees. “Politicians didn’t lead the mine wars. Politicians did not leave the teachers and school service personnel strike that happened, right here!”

Smith delivered his speech with several other candidates from the movement Saturday morning.

Brittney Barlett, a Buckhannon-area teacher running for the House of Delegates, promised to support teachers by raising their wages to match that of other states, and establishing curriculum that avoids too many standardized tests and “lets teachers teach.”

Rosemary Ketchum from Wheeling is running for City Council. She told rally attendees she wants to “expose sweetheart deals” that support large, out-of-state corporations over small, local businesses.

Tina Russell, who’s running for the House of Delegates in Mercer County, said she’ll establish a worker’s bill of rights, including paid family leave and collective bargaining for all state employees.

The entire presentation bounced around issues that have been in established politicians’ and Gov. Jim Justice’s recent addresses — economic development, population loss and substance use.

Smith himself elaborated on working class issues.

“Our workers are producing more than ever. West Virginians have never generated so much wealth, but that wealth does not stay here,” Smith said in his address. “The profits of our people working overtime heads out state and into the populous of executives.”

Candidates have until Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 at midnight to file with the Secretary of State’s office for the upcoming election cycle.

The West Virginia primary election for party nominations and nonpartisan elections is May 12, 2020.

The general election is Nov. 3, 2020.

Correction: Brittney Barlett is a candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates. An earlier version of this article misspelled her name.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

The W.Va. Governor's Race Heats Up after First Debate

On this episode of Viewpoint, West Virginia’s two major party candidates for governor squared off in their first of two televised debates Tuesday, focusing in on the state’s economic and budgetary issues.

Reaction to the candidates’ performances from the Chair of the West Virginia Republican Party Conrad Lucas and retiring Sen. Bill Laird, vice chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party.

Charlotte Pritt’s name may be familiar to some West Virginians. Pritt first ran for governor in 1992 as a Democrat and, in 1996, defeated Joe Manchin in the primary to become the party’s candidate for the office.

Pritt is back this year on the Mountain Party’s ticket as the progressive looking to make a change in the state.

Eric Trump Attends W.Va. Fundraiser, Libertarian for Governor Wants Change

Donald Trump is still working to raise money in West Virginia, this week sending his son to a joint national/state finance committee event. State Republican Party Chairman Conrad Lucas what Eric Trump told supporters in Charleston.

In Appalachia, the presidential candidates’ differing stances on coal is a major concern this election cycle. Donald Trump has of course promised to bring the industry back, but has given few details about how he’ll accomplish that feat.

Hillary Clinton has said she’ll put miners out of work, but is pushing a big plan to reinvest in coal communities. State Impact Pennsylvania’s Marie Cusick visited one of those communities just across the border from West Virginia in Green County, Pennsylvania, to get the local take on the race.

In statewide races, David Moran is not a new name for some West Virginia voters. The Libertarian is running for governor for a second time after finishing fourth in the polls in 2012. Moran is running on platforms that include abolishing the state’s personal income tax, cutting state boards and programs that he sees as a waste of taxpayer dollars, decriminalizing marijuana and increasing access to substance abuse treatment programs.

Moran discusses his platforms, his politics and the importance of having an alternative voice in the gubernatorial race.