For me, this isn't about politics; it's about home.

 

It's about the pot-holed roads we navigate and the crumbling bridges that connect us. It's about the foster care crisis, drug epidemic, and the historic teacher shortage that directly impacts our communities. It's the generations of serious problems plaguing West Virginia, leading to few opportunities, deep poverty, and a bleeding population.

​

Year after year, we find ourselves at the bottom in public health, innovation, and small business growth. Ranked 49th in healthcare and environmental quality, 48th in employment opportunity and median annual income, 45th in education, and 44th in child well-being. Shockingly, the largest group of West Virginians living in poverty for the first time in our history is our children—more than 86,000 kids, a heartbreaking 25% of them, up from 21% just last year.
 

Our home is in crisis, yet those in Charleston celebrate 'surpluses' amassed from the mismanagement of federal investment dollars and the understaffing of public services. Instead of striving for better days for West Virginia and our families, time is wasted pandering to Washington's talking points and pushing through bills that weaken the WV Jobs Act, erode our property rights, strip our workplace protections, and even take control away from our local governments. And public education, the great equalizer, is systematically degraded, defunded, and dismantled one legislative session at a time.  

 

And so, another year passes, the potholes deepen, our families continue to struggle, and we're left to watch as more of our friends and children leave for opportunities that Marion County and West Virginia lack.

​

I think we all can agree that West Virginia doesn't need more politicians, she needs problem-solvers and true public servants, people from all walks of life dedicated to prioritizing our workforce, our roads, and our children so that we can all stay, rebuild, and succeed. 

 

So let's get back to basics---roads, schools, and jobs.  Common-sense government and common-sense solutions.  It won't be easy and we can't pretend that any one person or party has all of the answers, but I do know that together we can build a thriving West Virginia, one full of growth and opportunity for everyone.  One that puts West Virginians first.