The rabbi's husband from West Virginia is running for U.S. Congress
Barry Wendell was standing on the banks of the Monongahela River, a serpentine waterway that winds its way to Pittsburgh, 75 miles north. Here in West Virginia, one of the reddest states in the entire country, Wendell is swimming against another tide: as a liberal, gay, Democrat running for U.S. Congress.
Wendell, the husband of Rabbi Joe Hample, who helms Morgantown’s Reform synagogue, exuded a soft calm underneath layers of outerwear as he invoked the Talmudic sage Hillel to sum up his quixotic bid: “If not now, when? And if not me, who?”
By any measure, he is the longest of long shots. Former President Donald Trump won 68.6% of West Virginia’s votes in 2020, his strongest showing except for Wyoming (69.9%.) But Wendell, whose only prior political experience is two terms on the Morgantown City Council, has never shied away from a challenge.
Indeed, his Congressional aspirations are at once surprising and on point. Wendell, now 72, has worked for the government before – first as a substitute teacher in Baltimore, then in Miami as a claims agent for the Social Security administration. “They were looking for someone bilingual,” he likes to joke, “and I spoke Spanish and Yiddish.”
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From one gay Jew in a ruby-red state to another, GO FOR IT!!!
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It is interesting to see this happening in WV. If I saw something similar here, I would probably faint.
... lesbian woman, or just a smart and kind person will see this man and have hope and feel better
about themselves and maybe even W.V.. W.V. leads the nation in having its smart young people
want to get out of W.V.. Go Barry it's your birthday.
Looks like a nice guy.
You gays are every damn place. 
you. This is a giant waste of time. And the candidate would need to be moderate and maybe ex-military. Dean tailored candidates to the districts and was very successful. This is at its core a political statement and I don't mind that...what I object to is using resources that could be spent in a more productive way elsewhere. I am a pragmatist. I am as progressive as they come but I value winning over ideology. I really do. I would rather get half a loaf than no loaf. 
