Political Candidates Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Criminalizing Aspects Of Voter Registration Debated In House

The section of House Bill 4017 under debate notes that finding any person who intentionally coerces or offers payment in exchange for a person to register to vote is guilty of a misdemeanor and could be fined and jailed.

Five bills on third reading passed in the House of Delegates Tuesday, including two that fostered some debate over election laws, voting laws and candidate filing periods.

Criminal actions regarding registering to vote are key to House Bill 4017, modifying certain election laws, early voting laws, and absentee voting laws.

The section under debate notes that finding any person who intentionally coerces or offers payment in exchange for a person to register to vote is guilty of a misdemeanor and could be fined and jailed.

House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, asked that with no specific definition of the terms coerced or payment, could a college campus voter registration table giving away bottled water and cookies, or the Secretary of State’s high school teen voter registration campaign be seen as criminal acts?

“This piece of legislation in front of us could potentially not only harm those high school students and the aforementioned college students, this could criminalize our Secretary of State,” Hornbuckle said. “I would urge us, with the language, to slow down and we need to rethink what we’re doing here because it can be problematic.”

There was no other debate on the floor. House Bill 4017 passed the House by a 90-7 vote. It will become effective Jan. 1, 2025 if it passes the Senate.

Also on third reading, House Bill 4350 removes the ability of political parties to appoint candidates for the primary election in positions where no one has filed.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, was among several House Democrats opposing a proposed bill they said benefits incumbency and stifles participation in the elective process.

“This is a bill that only protects incumbency,” Puskin said. “The only people that care about this bill are sitting in this room, or down the hall or in a couple county courthouses across the state. So when you’re voting for this, ask yourself Who are your heroes? Who are you here to serve? Your constituents, the voters who deserve choices, or yourself? I’ll be voting against this bill. It is self serving at its worst.”

However, Del. Adam Vance, R-Wyoming, asked House Judiciary Committee Chair Tom Fast, R-Fayette, if the scope of the bill still contained defined time limits, opportunities and restrictions on filing for political office.

“Are there not filing periods for these candidates to file?” Vance asked Fast.

“There certainly are,” Fast answered. “There’s an election every two years in this state. If I want somebody to run for something, I’ve got two years at least to go to him and talk to him and try to talk with me to run it. I don’t see the problem with this bill and I’ve got two years, four years for a Senate seat and it shouldn’t be extra time to just grab somebody and say, here you’re on the ballot. So I’m gonna be a big yes on this.”

House Bill 4350 passed 79-18 and also now goes to the Senate.

2024 Gubernatorial Candidates Join In Political Forum

The four leading Republican candidates on the 2024 primary ballot were asked about West Virginia’s declining population, size of government, education and tourism.

Speaking before the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce summit at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, and a live television audience, the four leading Republican candidates on the 2024 primary ballot were asked about West Virginia’s declining population, size of government, education and tourism.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said he was studying what works in neighboring states and would implement that information in a first 100-day plan.

“We’re going to make sure that on the issue of taxation, on the issue of regulation, on the issue of licensing, on the issue of workforce, West Virginia is going to win against all those states,” Morrisey said.

Candidate Chris Miller owns the Dutch Miller Auto Group. Miller said the state needs to improve its technological efficiency and leverage its rich natural resources.

“We have an abundance of coal, we have an abundance of natural gas, we also now have the potential for nuclear energy, and we have this incredible amount of water,” Miller said. “Why don’t we use that as the foundation for all of our economic growth and development.”

House of Delegates Judiciary Committee Chair Moore Capito described himself as an architect of the legislative supermajority and said local leaders know best.

“When I’m governor, we’re going to start off on day one by entering into an engagement tour where we go to every single local and county government and talk to them about what they need,” Capito said.

Secretary of State Mac Warner said he was the sole veteran and teacher in a race where he has the widest range of experience.

“I’m an Eagle Scout, graduate of West Point, WVU College of Law, I hold two master’s degrees,” Warner said. “I have lived a life of service both in the military and with the U.S. State Department.”

All four candidates said education would be a priority.

Warner said in his experience at West Point, they posted your grade point average weekly in every subject, and that was an inspiration to work harder. He said as governor, he would extend that accountability.

“I propose we do look at ratings of some sort,” Warner said. “But deal with the professionals, determine what is the best form of the rating system, and then watch it, benchmark it and then see whether we approve or not.”

Morrisey defended his work in expanding school choice. He said as governor he would expand it even further.

“I want to make sure that money follows the child much more aggressively,” Morrisey said. “West Virginia will always have the broadest school choice law in the country, that’s number one. Number two, we’re going to have to build on the success of charter schools, we need to do things differently.”

Capito said teachers are overwhelmed with so many things that they weren’t trained to do. He said the state should continue to provide more supplemental help in our early education classrooms.

“We know that kids learn to read from the time they’re born to the third grade and then they read to learn from then on,” Capito said. “If they’re not reading to learn after third grade, we’re falling behind. So let’s put tools in place to succeed and they’ll reward success.”

Miller said the state education system is too administratively “top heavy.”

“We need to get rid of this big, bloated layer of bureaucracy that soaks up all the resources before the money flows down into the classroom,” Miller said. “We need to focus on making the kids’ lives better, to focus on making sure they have all the resources that they need.”

One Republican candidate will emerge when voters cast their ballots. No Democrat has declared to run yet, but Huntington Mayor Steve Williams has given indications he will soon announce his candidacy.

The 2024 West Virginia Primary is May 14th.

Justice, Mooney Senate Campaign Finance Numbers Note Diverse Support

The Republican U.S. Senate primary campaigns for Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney released their candidates’ second quarter finance numbers this week.

The Federal Election Commission’s deadline for second quarter filing is July 15. Neither candidate had filed as of this story’s publishing.

The Justice campaign said it has raised more than $935,000 since he announced his candidacy in late April. The Mooney campaign says he raised $550,000 in the second quarter of 2023.

Mooney’s camp said it currently has $1.5 million cash on hand. Justice’s people report over $800,000 cash on hand entering the third fundraising quarter.

West Virginia University’s (WVU) Political Science Department Chair John Kilwein thinks the amounts were closer than expected.

“Given Justice’s popularity and support by Mitch McConnell and the polling data, I thought it was going to be a lot higher,” Kilwein said, referring to the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky, who recruited Justice to run.

The Justice campaign press release highlights “receiving support from 5,526 individual donors, with 93 percent of those donors giving less than $100.”

Mooney’s campaign release touts, “Club for Growth Action and Protect Freedom PAC (Political Action Committee) announced that it hauled in an impressive $13.55 million for Alex Mooney.”

Kilwein said both releases clearly come with a specific angle from the candidate’s perspective. He sees two possible scenarios for the dichotomy in highlighting small vs. big donations.

“One, you may be taking advantage of what is a reality that isn’t as helpful to you,” Kilwein said. “If that’s where you got the money from, then you simply have to brag about where you got it. Or, it just may be that both candidates are saying, here’s the narrative – Mooney may be explaining to more fiscally conservative voters, look who’s backing me. Justice is playing on his strength, a popular governor, well loved across the state.”

Mooney’s release notes, “Club for Growth PAC endorsed Alex Mooney in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate Race because Alex is a proven conservative.”

When asked about the PACs aligned with McConnell supporting Justice and how much money has been raised, Justice’s campaign manager Roman Stauffer suggested using this quote attributed to him, not answering the question:

“Governor Justice received tremendous support from West Virginians and others who have confidence in his leadership and conservative record and know he is the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Stauffer said. “Unlike our opponent, we are focused on talking to West Virginians and not coordinating with out-of-state groups desperate to influence this race.”

Justice and Mooney are the two leading Republican candidates on the May 2024 primary ballot. Incumbant Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has said he expects to announce his future political intentions in December.

Even with West Virginia being such a red state, Kilewein said Justice and Mooney “should not think this is going to be a cakewalk once it gets to the general election.”

“Why? Just because Manchin is Manchin,” Kilwein said. “It could be a complete wipeout. But I also think that it could be tough. I definitely could see Manchin run with this kind of folksy charm against Mooney, who certainly lacks that as someone who is not a native is needed. It will be a tougher battle between Justice and Manchin, but Justice comes to this with some problems with his companies and his age and his health, and his apparent lack of interest in not wanting to live in Charleston. How are you going to want to live in D.C.? I’m not saying that the Republicans are not going to win. I’m just saying that it may not be as easy as they think it is.”

West Virginia’s 2024 primary election is May 14.

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.

Candidates Galore; W.Va. Elections Director On Running For Office in 2024

It did not take long after the recent general election for several political candidates to announce they’re running for state and federal offices in 2024. More are expected to announce in the next few weeks.

But, are they officially on the ballot? Government Reporter Randy Yohe talked with state Election Director Deak Kersey from Secretary of State Mac Warner’s office on how declaring yourself a political candidate really works.

Yohe: It seems like right after the recent elections, we have many announcements for state and federal offices in West Virginia for 2024. Is this unusual or usual?

Kersey: From my experience here in the office, you do hear a lot of chatter heading into a presidential election year. This does seem earlier than usual. That may be due to the unique circumstances in the Republican primaries, where there are several contenders for statewide offices.

Yohe: We’ve heard people saying that they’ve announced for governor or they have announced to run for the U.S. House or Senate. Have they officially filed? How does that all work?

Kersey: When someone declares for office publicly, what that typically means is, if you’re not in the election year especially, that they have filed a pre-candidacy report. What that does is permits candidates to raise money towards their campaign. It places bookends on when candidates can begin and end raising money. You can’t raise money for a campaign that’s going to start after the next general election if that particular office is on this ballot.

For example, Randy couldn’t run for governor in 2028, you can only run for the next race that governor is going to be on if you want to start raising money towards it right now. When someone says they’ve declared for a particular race, what that typically means is they have filed a pre-candidacy form with our office. It can be found on our campaign finance reporting website. Then they can start accepting money, they can create a committee, they can appoint a treasurer, spend money, do all the things that a normal candidate would do. They’re not officially a candidate yet, they are simply a pre-candidate.

When the election year comes, that will be 2024 for the statewide offices you’re talking about, there is a particular form called certificate of announcement that all candidates have to file within a particular period in January. Once that certificate of announcements form is filed, they are officially a candidate and then they will be placed on the ballot as long as they meet all the other qualifications.

Yohe: That’s January 2024 right? So, they can skate through 2023 without being an officially announced candidate, as long as they filed pre-candidacy and deal with fundraising and such?

Kersey: Yes, the purpose of having a pre-candidate form and becoming a pre-candidate is so you can lawfully accept donations from the public to put towards your campaign. That’s the only legal mechanism that the pre-candidacy form is used for. So people can say they’ve declared, or that they are going to run for governor or for senate or for house or whatever it may be. If they don’t file that pre-candidacy, they can’t raise money and spend money for their campaign. Once they file that pre-candidacy, it creates a committee for the candidate. However, come January 2024, if they want to be an official candidate, they must file a certificate of announcement.

Yohe: What are the requirements for that candidate to report their fundraising?

Kersey: The same requirements as you have during an election year. The legislature changed the law in 2019 to no longer allow for off-election years to simply file annual reports. Candidates now file on a quarterly basis. You will see four reports in 2023 from all candidates that have filed, and you’ll see six reports in 2024. They’re the same quarterly reports, plus a report due just before each election and that continues in perpetuity. These candidate committees live on in perpetuity until the account has been drawn down to zero, all the loans are paid off and all the bills are paid. At that point the committee has to close its shop. Usually, what we’ll see is a candidate will roll that money over into a subsequent campaign if they’re gonna run again in the next election cycle.

Randy: How does the public take a look at all this? You were talking about the campaign finance website, tell me how I navigate to that.

Kersey: There are several different ways you can do it. The first way is to go to our website, sos.wv.gov. On the top of the homepage, there’s an elections tab. You go to the elections tab, and you simply click the online campaign finance reporting system and that takes you to the website, or you can go directly to the campaign finance website yourself.

Randy: Do you have a list of who has filed for pre-candidacy?

Kersey: Yes, and I can tell you how to get to it yourself as well. On the campaign finance homepage, the top left of the page, there’s this little hamburger thing next to the state seal. That’s a menu, and you click that and then you click explore, and in the very first category there are pre-candidates. You click pre-candidates, you select the election year, 2024, And it creates you a list of candidates.

Yohe: The phrase we’ve been using is “they’re coming out of the woodwork.” Is there anything that we need to know to keep our head straight on candidacy?

Kersey: If someone says they’ve declared that they’re running for office you can come check the website and see if they’re allowed to raise money and spend money. If they have filed a pre-candidacy, then they’ll be reporting their campaign finances on the website. It’s required by law for all statewide offices and all legislative offices.

State Treasurer Riley Moore Announces Run For U.S. Congress

Speaking from his home in Harpers Ferry on Monday, the former state delegate said he will run as a Republican in 2024 for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

Speaking from his home in Harpers Ferry on Monday, the former state delegate said he will run as a Republican in 2024 for the 2nd Congressional District seat now held by Rep. Alex Mooney, who announced last week he’s running for U.S. Senate in 2024.

“My track record speaks for itself,“ Moore said. “I’ve been a conservative fighter as your state treasurer, and that is exactly what I’m going to do when I go to Washington.”

Moore said he will continue his conservative fight in support of fossil fuels and national energy independence.

“I’ve been fighting the woke corporations, woke capitalism and the ESG movement in this country. I was the first state treasurer in this country to divest BlackRock out of our state treasury funds,” Moore said. “I was the first state treasurer to come up with a restricted financial institution list that put woke banks on it for boycotting the fossil fuel industry in the state of West Virginia.”

As state shepherd of the Hope Scholarship Program, Moore said he will push to create national educational savings accounts across America.

“This should be a federal program, we must have school choice for all of our children. You see the national test scores, they are abysmal,” Moore said. “Fourth grade and eighth grade reading and math has never been lower. We have to put our children first. There’s a war going on with the family in this country, and we have to be able to give them choice over indoctrination.”

Moore said he’d fight to better train a United States workforce to bring jobs back home from China. He proposed putting more tariffs on Chinese products to help correct a trade imbalance.

Moore continues a West Virginia Republican family political legacy as the nephew of U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and the grandson of three-time Gov. Arch Moore.