Politics: 2020 West Virginia Governor Race

This will be my last post before the election. I will have to cover other subjects that sort of relate to elections from the next post after this. In addition to that, I will get to covering the results of the elections after they are known, the elections for 2021, then the elections for 2022 as well.

As for the West Virginia governor race, the country road has to take me home, where I stand. Wait. That’s a song unrelated to this election. The incumbent is Republican Jim Justice. He was once a Democrat, having been elected as that. He was a Republican before and didn’t stay a Democrat for long. West Virginia hadn’t had a Republican governor since 2001. If he wins office, he will be the first Republican elected governor from this state since the 1996 election.

There are many issues with him and his time in office. While his businesses gets a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), that’s not a problem on its own. But as governor, he is in charge of the state agencies that regulate his businesses. He also had moderate views. Some of what are considered conservative views that he has are being pro-life and supporting gun rights. Some of his liberal views are supporting LGBT and health care rights.

Many people like me might view Jim as a traitor to his old party. His opponent is Democrat Ben Salango. Ben is currently a county commissioner. Other third party candidates in the race are Daniel Lutz of the Mountain Party, Erika Kolenich of the Libertarian Party, and various write-in candidates. There’s not much else to say about that.

While I could talk some about the effects of coronavirus on West Virginia, there isn’t as much to say about it since it doesn’t seem to be as bad there. How much of that was due to Jim doing things good or simply not having as many people packed there together like they are in some states that might have more people in it. But it could have to do with measures that he did so he might not be as bad as I think. 

Still, when it comes to an endorsement in this race that I feel like doing, I would have to endorse Ben Salango in the race. While not talked about as much, Jim feels like a lesser version of the guy in the White House with his influence of things specifically with his businesses. Thus, Ben would be a more trustworthy candidate. If you can vote in West Virginia and haven’t done that already, then vote for Ben Salango.