Nationwide the Red wave that was predicted for election day didn’t materialize. However, in West Virginia, it did.
In the House of Delegates, the GOP won ten more seats, pushing their supermajority to 88 seats, while Democrats will now hold only 12. At least four incumbent Democrats lost, and Democrats did not put-up candidates in 21 races. In the Senate, Republicans won 16 of 17 seats up for election and, in the process, defeated four incumbent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin and four-term Senator Ron Stollings.
Not only did the Red Wave affect the legislature, it also included County Races. Republicans gained 14 seats in both the County Clerk and Circuit Clerk offices. Also, Republicans won 50 of the 61 County Commission seats that were up for grab.
One might ask, how could that happen? Especially, with the defeat of all four Constitutional amendments on the ballot. Didn’t voters realize that most of the Republican legislature candidates on the ballot were responsible for those amendments?Yet they voted them back in. To do what? Reintroduce theamendments again or put them into another form of legislation?
You would think with this reasoning, the Republicans would have taken some losses, but it didn’t happen. So, why did the Democrats take it so hard on the chin in West Virginia? I think it’s because the party leadership is not representative of the citizenry of West Virginia like they once were.
My parents were lifelong Democrats, but they didn’t always vote that way. In their early years, they did, but when Ronald Reagan became President, that all began to change. On a national level, Democrats have been evolving farther and farther to the left, but not in West Virginia. My parents were from a different breed of Democrat. One that I believe is still prominent today among Democrats in our state.
They loved Reagan but their hero was a man by the name of John F. Kennedy. JFK supported the Second Amendment, he was a lifetime member of the NRA, he was anti-communism and socialism, and he supported tax cuts and lower taxes, even on the rich. This is the type of Democrat my parents believed in,and I believe that most Democrats in West Virginia believe that way today. Definitely, most West Virginians do.
Most West Virginians, Democrats included, believe in the right to keep and bear arms; that biological males don’t belong in girls’ sports; that Critical Race Theory should not be taught in schools; that you should stand when the national anthem is played; and the list goes on.
Unfortunately, leaders in the Democrat party in West Virginia have chosen to follow the radical ideology that’s being promoted on a national level in our nation capital. However, the one thing the state Democrat leadership chose not to neglect is the working class, who in my opinion is looked down upon by a lot of Republicans. Sure, a lot of Republicans in the legislature say they’re for jobs but then they turn around and support bills that attacks workers.
“Elections have consequences” as the saying goes, suggesting that there are winners and losers after each one. One would hope that everyone was a winner but that’s just never the case. Butwho might be the biggest losers in this past election? It just might be the working class.
During the past legislature, several bills were introduced that in my opinion were detrimental to the working class. Four of these almost made it into law. One bill would’ve cut unemployment benefits from 26 weeks down to 12 (SB2). Another bill would have made the reporting of certified payroll documents optional, essentially stripping enforcement procedures from the WV Jobs Act and allowing the possible use of illegal immigrants (HB4256). Another bill took away the right to sue an employer by a worker who was injured because of an intentional act by his or her employer (HB4394). And still another bill would’veeliminated the West Virginia Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training’s ability to enforce necessary safety laws that were put there to protect the lives of coalminers (HB4840).
These bills were defeated during this past session, but not by being voted on, but by lack of support. There were enough Republicans opposing these bills, along with twenty-two Democrats, that kept them from making it to the floor of the House. Sadly, there may not be much standing in the way of their passage in the upcoming sessions.
If the working class is going to survive, more Republicans are going to have to step up and defend them. The Democrats, on the other hand, only must blame themselves for letting down the working-class citizens of West Virginia. Instead of sticking with the tried and proven issues that are favored by most West Virginians, they’ve chose to align themselves with Far-LeftIdeology.
I’m a Republican but I’m a West Virginian first when it comes to my political believes. Party isn’t important after the election. It’s what’s best for the citizens as a whole that matters.
