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lees1975

(6,928 posts)
Sat Jan 17, 2026, 12:32 PM Saturday

Let's help Zach Shrewsbury win an unexpected Senate seat and help flip the Senate in the Midterms [View all]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2026/01/lets-help-zach-shrewsbury-win-senate.html

When it comes to national politics, West Virginia rarely shows up on the radar screen. Unless an election is running close, or a primary, little attention is paid to what goes on in this small state that once was a Democratic party stronghold because of organzed labor in the coal industry, but which, because of the culture war, a lot of ignorance, and no one really caring much, has become one of the reddest states in the union. And as coal has collapsed, which Republicans falsely and deceptively blamed on Democrats when it was their own doing, under Bush and under Trump during his first term, the population has declined, the state lost a congressional seat, and the voter turnout in elections has plummeted to all time lows as the opioid crisis roared and people who could still afford to do so moved elsewhere.


Shrewsbury's message is aimed at West Virginians who have, in surprisingly large numbers, stayed away from the polls over the years. I remember hearing my mother and father, and my grandmother, express their doubts about whether any politician was honest enough or sincere enough to be concerned about their life and their needs, and that it really didn't matter who they voted for, nothing would change. That came from their own experience. How many other people think that way is a clear factor in election outcomes, since more people don't register or vote than those who actually do.

West Virginia, especially its southern counties, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, is feeling the effects of the affordability crisis more than most places. A high percentage of the population, those who haven't moved to find better jobs, are on fixed incomes, like black lung pensions, or social security, so when the local grocery store, or Wal-Mart, or hospital, closes, they have the expense of long drives added to the higher prices of goods. Try to find what Moore-Capito is doing, anything, to help. You won't find a thing. She's more interested in being a good Trumpie than she is in helping the people of West Virginia, she's just using them for her own political career.


This is not a politician who is feathering his own nest. This is someone who is making a difference without being a politician.
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