By Anna Moore
The 2024 primary election in West Virginia will be pivotal in shaping the state’s political landscape. Candidates are vying for key offices in government, including governor, attorney general and U.S. senator.
Voting in any election is more than a civic duty. It’s an instrument for progress and empowers citizens to shape their future. With the majority of the candidates running in each of the three races listed above being republican, the primary election taking place on May 14, 2024, is crucial. In light of this, West Virginia Executive (WVE) wanted to offer its readers a look at each candidate’s mission and values. For each race, we asked all of the candidates the same series of questions pertaining to their plans and platform. Informed voting shapes policies, making your voice impactful and decisions meaningful. It is WVE’s hope that these Q&As will help enable readers to make the best decisions possible for their ballots and, ultimately, the state of West Virginia.
GOVERNOR
Tell us about your professional background and how it would help you serve as governor of West Virginia.
Since 2017, I’ve had the honor of serving in the House of Delegates, where I currently serve as judiciary chair. My get-it-done conservative approach makes me the only candidate who can say they’ve turned good ideas into law.
Tell us about your four-year plan.
The Capito administration will have a comprehensive agenda that will prioritize three interconnected issues: public safety, jobs and education.
My goal is for West Virginia to be the safest state in America—to ensure police and first responders have the resources they need and impose a maximum life sentence for fentanyl dealers.
I was proud to vote to cut taxes. My goal is to eliminate the income tax by the end of my term. By cutting red tape and regulations, small businesses can grow. By providing infrastructure needs, we can create new businesses.
Joe Biden has it all wrong. West Virginia energy isn’t the problem. It’s the solution to American energy independence and lowering prices for consumers.
My A+ for WV education plan will ensure every student has access to a quality education and every parent is involved by: emphasizing achievement, accountability and attendance; providing parents with choices; focusing on learning—reading, writing and math—starting with pre-K and hiring reading and math tutors; establishing a task force to understand the problems and offer solutions; prioritizing student safety—both physical and mental health; ensuring workforce readiness so every student can pass the military entrance exam, college prep test or graduate ready for a skilled career; and providing veterans tuition waivers.
Why did you choose to run for governor?
The future of our state is personal to me. I’m a sixth generation West Virginian and father to two children. I believe West Virginia is on the right track for the first time in a long time. I’m ready to lead us to the next level.
Tell us about your professional background and how it would help you serve as governor of West Virginia.
When I was 10 years old, I told my dad I wanted a pair of Air Jordans. When he found out they cost $125, he told me to get a job. I’ve been working ever since. Eventually, I got involved in our business. We had two businesses when I started. Through a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, I grew it to 26 different enterprises. We employ 700 people, 500 of whom live in West Virginia. We’re in the automotive, real estate and insurance industries. We also have a bison farm and a data company.
I’ve lived my life in the private sector. I know what it means to create a job. I know how to attract talent and capital, and I’ll do it for West Virginia as governor.
Tell us about your four-year plan.
The number one problem West Virginia faces is that our greatest export is not our coal, our natural gas or our timber. Our greatest export is our educated kids.
To fix that, we need a thriving economy. We need to make our state more appealing as an investment because capital flows like water to places it’s most welcome. We need to run state government more like a business and audit every dime. We need to become the state with the cheapest power. We also need to break up the good old boy system that has run our state for far too long.
Why did you choose to run for governor?
I’m not a politician. I like problem-solving. I’m a conservative businessman who has never run for office.
I’m tired of watching our state fail to meet its potential. Meanwhile, we face serious financial challenges because of demographics and declining population. These problems are not made for politicians to solve. They are made for entrepreneurs to solve, and I’ve never shied away from a challenge.
Tell us about your professional background and how it would help you serve as governor of West Virginia.
I’ve proudly served as West Virginia’s attorney general (AG) since 2012. From spearheading the nation’s largest win against the deep administrative state in decades with WV v. EPA, protecting jobs, growing our workforce and tackling the fentanyl and opioid epidemic with $1 billion in settlements to defending our diverse energy portfolio and protecting pro-family policies as the state’s first pro-life AG in state history, I’m the only proven conservative in the race who has taken on the biggest challenges facing West Virginia and won. With my unmatched record of accomplishment, I’ll be able to hit the ground running on day one as governor.
Tell us about your four-year plan.
I have a vision for West Virginia to be that shining state in the mountains. As governor, I will work to erase the state income tax, create jobs, protect our natural resources and energy industry and reform our educational system to be nationally competitive. A central effort of my administration will be to grow our population and workforce. By demonstrating through incentives to families, businesses and recent graduates that opportunity lies in West Virginia, I will work to maintain continued investment in our state without losing talent and investment to our neighbors.
Why did you choose to run for governor?
The people of West Virginia have shown me great kindness and have believed in me so much that they put their faith in me three times over as AG over the last decade. I would like to repay that kindness by continuing to serve. That’s why I’m running for governor. The stakes are too high for the state’s highest executive seat to be filled with someone who is inexperienced, whose convictions fall short and who lacks the will to fight tooth and nail for West Virginia. My principled foundations and tenure as an extremely active and successful AG make me the best choice.
Tell us about your professional background and how it would help you serve as governor of West Virginia.
My education, military service and career have prepared me for this office. I’m a graduate of West Point, WVU College of Law and University of Virginia School of Law. I served in leadership roles on four continents during a 23-year active-duty Army career and served another five years in Afghanistan with the U.S. Department of State advising four national ministries and leading the world’s largest Rule of Law Program. As West Virginia Secretary of State, I cleaned voter rolls, implemented voter ID, made it easier than ever to start a business, restored confidence in elections and streamlined the state’s entire business registration processes. Tackling and solving the most difficult problems is what I do and what I will bring to the office of governor.
Tell us about your four-year plan.
I will appoint competent, pro-business individuals as agency leaders and cabinet secretaries and, together, work to build trust and respect between the governor’s office and legislative leaders. I will maintain constant focus on education, energy and economic development. I will implement strategies addressing the state’s greatest needs, challenges and opportunities by engaging the whole of government, industry partners, civic leaders and subject matter experts. Together, we will develop and implement common sense solutions, continually evaluate our progress and adapt.
Why did you choose to run for governor?
I’m a sixth generation West Virginian, and West Virginia is my home. Our state deserves a leader who will personally engage, actively listen, appoint the finest people and work collaboratively. I am uniquely prepared to be that leader. As the only teacher, veteran and grandparent in this race, I bring an invaluable nuanced perspective which others do not. I have five decades of applicable professional experience. I will drive competency, responsibility, accountability and conservatism into every aspect of state government. I seek no higher office; this will be the pinnacle of my lifetime pursuit of service to others.
Tell us about your professional background and how it would help you serve as governor of West Virginia.
My private sector career consisted of assisting state and local governments with determining strategies to finance their infrastructure needs. I also assisted individuals in designing investment strategies to accomplish their personal financial goals. I managed some of the largest markets in the nation.
My involvement in public service has varied. I have been a mayor, a city councilman, a legislator, a city manager and an economic development professional in two communities. I learned how to transfer my knowledge of the financial markets and experience running a large business into an effort to transform a city and its public endeavors. Our efforts became entrepreneurial and set standards the nation seeks to emulate. If Huntington can set that standard, West Virginia can too. I am uniquely prepared and qualified to lead West Virginia as its governor.
Tell us about your four-year plan.
My vision is to set a course for the next 50 years. A four-year plan is akin to looking four steps ahead and not seeing the constant change coming on the horizon. A 50-year time horizon sets a vision and expectation that our infrastructure needs to be built, upgraded and invented so we can make our state a top-five state and not a bottom-five standard.
Our Appalachian culture created the nation’s first applied engineers. We must embrace challenges and find new ways to provide transformative systems to the world—solutions to the world’s greatest problems. Our colleges, universities and community colleges must be provided with the resources to ensure that our students learn how to use their minds to solve the world’s challenges.
Why did you choose to run for governor?
We have done something very special in Huntington to transform our city and region. I believe I can help our state benefit from the transformative experience we have had in Huntington.
U.S. SENATOR
What makes you the right person to represent West Virginia on the national stage?
I’m a can-do businessman and a patriot. As governor, I accomplished bold conservative results and made West Virginia shine, and I want to continue working for the people of West Virginia in the U.S. Senate. As governor, I led the effort for the largest tax cut in state history, and Roads to Prosperity was my idea—investing billions of dollars in our roads, highways and bridges. We’ve announced economic growth and development across West Virginia, which has helped the state create tens of thousands of new jobs. We made West Virginia a national tourism destination, and people are vacationing at our parks, historic sites and small towns and cities. And of course, Babydog.
In a dramatically divided national landscape, how can you unify the Senate?
I have a record of working with people from both political parties and bringing people together to accomplish really big things. As governor of West Virginia, I did it on issues from the largest tax cut in state history to state employee pay raises to protecting the Second Amendment.
As U.S. Senator, what do you hope to accomplish for the state of West Virginia?
As your senator, I will stand up to President Biden and extremists and continue to fight for the middle class. In Washington, I’ll fight for a better future for West Virginia
by slashing burdensome regulations, supporting small businesses and rewarding hard work, not punishing it. I’ll remain a coal, natural gas and oil champion and advocate for West Virginia energy and West Virginia’s energy workers. Achieving American energy independence will require the energy workers of West Virginia and our abundant natural resources. I will defend the Social Security benefits seniors have earned and protect Medicare. I’ll work to stop the reckless spending and ensure that these critical programs remain solvent for seniors at or near retirement and future generations.
What makes you the right person to represent West Virginia on the national stage?
I have represented West Virginia in Congress for almost 10 years. Due to redistricting, I have represented over two-thirds of our great state. I am the son of a Cuban immigrant who fled Castro’s communist government and a Vietnam War veteran. During my time in Congress, I have fought consistently for freedom and individual liberties. I am a proud member of the House Freedom Caucus along with Representative Jim Jordan. I am the only candidate who has consistently opposed Joe Biden’s out-of-control spending. Jim Justice is on the record vocally supporting and calling for the passage of over $3 trillion in Biden spending. I am the only true conservative Republican running for the U.S. Senate.
In a dramatically divided national landscape, how can you unify the Senate?
Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate has been unified on only one thing—bankrupting our nation. Our current U.S. debt is over $33 trillion and the annual deficit upward of $1.7 trillion. Despite both record inflation and debt, the U.S. Senate continues to pass bloated spending bills. It is time to end the big government uniparty spending in the Senate. America is weaker when we have to borrow money from our enemies, and families are hurt by the resulting inflation and higher interest rates. If you want business as usual and a go-along to get-along Republican, vote for my opponent. If you want to elect a fiscal conservative, I ask for your vote.
As U.S. Senator, what do you hope to accomplish for the state of West Virginia?
As West Virginia’s next U.S. Senator, I will work to reduce costs and keep the government out of West Virginians’ pockets. I want to continue to provide resources for our nation’s law enforcement and veterans. We must secure our border as we have seen a record number of illegal immigrants cross into our southern border, including those on the terror watch list. In the U.S. Senate, I want to ensure that our state is protected from the far-left policies.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Tell us about your professional background and how it has prepared you for the role of attorney general.
As a lawyer in private practice, I defended the coal industry, worked on oil and gas production and zealously defended West Virginia small businesses. As state auditor, I have made it my mission to hold governments accountable and protect the fiscal interests of the taxpayer. As the next attorney general (AG), fighting daily for the rights, freedoms and trust of the people of West Virginia will be my highest priority. I believe my record of protecting the taxpayer, increasing bureaucratic responsibility and doing more with less has prepared me to do just that.
What do you see as West Virginia’s biggest challenges?
We must address the issues facing our young families and small businesses—our state’s economic bedrock. Creating an environment where people feel safe, welcome and free to live their lives, raise their children and operate their businesses on their terms must be our priority.
What will be your number one priority if elected?
One of my highest priorities as AG will be to protect the rights and freedoms of West Virginians. We cannot allow outside entities to turn our state into something it is not. Fighting ridiculous overreach and burdensome regulation will solidify West Virginia atop the list of states that value the history and culture of its citizens and work each day to ensure intentional growth while maintaining our core values.
Tell us about your professional background and how it has prepared you for the role of attorney general.
Big record. Nearly 25 years practicing law at the highest levels; partner at two major law firms; U.S. attorney; state senator. After being his West Virginia co-chair of his 2016 campaign, I was former President Donald Trump’s personal pick for U.S. attorney and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with the support of Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito. As the highest ranking federal law enforcement official in Southern West Virginia, I was on the front lines of the opioid crisis, prosecuted two members of the U.S. Supreme Court, had the largest Medicaid and elder fraud prosecutions in West Virginia’s history, led more drug raids than any other U.S. attorney, supported law enforcement, including proposing the Back the Blue license plate, aggressively fought elder fraud and domestic violence and took enough fentanyl off the streets to kill more than 40 million people. After defeating a four-term, 16-year incumbent in a 6:1 Democrat district by nearly 20%, I was the chief sponsor of major bills, including overhauling West Virginia’s over-the-counter drug laws and doubling vehicle inspection stickers to two years. I’m running for attorney general because it’s a serious job for a serious person with a serious record. I have a proven record of taking on big challenges and winning.
What do you see as West Virginia’s biggest challenges?
Liberal politicians and an out-of-control federal government that seek to destroy our jobs, values and way of life. We must also solve the drug scourge, protect families from rising crime, support first responders and law enforcement and defend veterans and seniors.
What will be your number one priority if elected?
Fighting the liberals and federal assault on our families, values and jobs, including the right to drill, frack and mine the beautiful, bountiful energy beneath our feet; protecting our children; supporting law enforcement and first responders; and defending the 2nd Amendment.
