CHARLESTON – Members of the West Virginia AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education gathered during the weekend and selected a variety of state and local candidates for endorsement in the 2016 primary election.
“Having been under attack by the Republican legislative leadership for the past two years, our members are keenly aware of how the outcome of these elections directly affects them,” West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue said. “Our committee members were careful to ensure that anyone who receives our endorsement opposes laws that hurt working families, such as ‘Right to Work’ and repeal of Prevailing Wage.”
An endorsement by the West Virginia AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education follows recommendations from 13 AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils located around the state. The Central Labor Councils interviewed legislative candidates who complete a questionnaire, and consider an incumbent’s recorded vote on working family issues. Some statewide candidates also appeared before the committee during the day-long meeting Saturday. To garner an endorsement by the West Virginia AFL-CIO, a candidate must receive a 2/3 majority of votes cast by the 64 members of State COPE.
Among those endorsed on the statewide level are Natalie Tennant for Secretary of State, Jason Pizatella for Auditor; John Perdue for Treasurer, Walt Helmick for Agriculture Commissioner, Doug Reynolds for Attorney General and Darrell McGraw for Supreme Court.
Committee members took no action in the gubernatorial Democratic primary, leaving it up to affiliates of the West Virginia AFL-CIO to determine whether to support any of the three candidates.
“There are a lot of really great candidates competing in this election, and we expect a very informative and lively primary race for governor and all of the legislative seats,” Perdue said. “Once the primary election is complete, our Committee on Political Education will gather again to choose candidates for endorsement in the general election.”
The following legislative candidates were endorsed:
2nd Congressional District
Mark Hunt
State Senate Districts
1st Jack Host; 2nd Lisa Zukoff; 3rd Bradley Vanzile and Greg Smith; 4th Brian Prim and Dustin Lewis; 5th Bob Plymale; 6th Rocky Seay; 7th Art Kirkendoll; 8th Glenn Jeffries; 9th Mike Goode; 10thDave Perry; 11th Denise Campbell; 12th Doug Facemire; 13th Roman Prezioso; 14th Bob Williams; 15th Brad Noll; 16th Stephen Skinner; 17th Corey Palumbo.
House of Delegates Districts
1st Ronnie Jones; 2nd Phil Diserio; 3rd Shawn Fluharty and Erikka Storch; 4th Mike Ferro and Joe Canestraro; 5th Dave Pethtel; 8th David Bland; 9thJim Marion; 10th Andy Daniel, Bill Merriman and Stephen Ruble; 12th Missy Morris; 13th Scott Brewer; 14th Samantha Fooce; 15th Terrence Turley; 16th Sean Hornbuckle and James Stacy; 17th Chad Lovejoy and Matthew Rohrbach; 18th Paul David Ross; 19th Ken Hicks and Matt McComas; 20thJustin Marcum; 21st Phyllis White; 22nd Jeff Eldridge and Gary McCallister; 23rd Rodney Miller; 24th Ralph Rodighiero; 25th Frank “Bucky” Blackwell; 26th Ed Evans; 27th Sabrina Shrader, Lacy Watson and Carol Bailey; 28th Wayne Williams and Bill O’Brien; 29th Ricky Moye; 30th Mick Bates; 31st Kristen Ross; 32nd John Pino, Margaret Staggers and Greg Crist; 33rd David Walker; 34thBrent Boggs; 35th Andrew Byrd, Shawn Little, Ben Adams and Benjamin Sheridan; 36th Nancy Guthrie, Larry Rowe and Andrew Robinson; 37th Mike Pushkin; 38th Tom Tull; 39th Shannon Hagerman; 40th Melissa Riggs Huffman and Ronald Shamblin; 41st Adam Young; 42nd Stephen Baldwin and Ray Canterbury; 43rd Bill Hartman; 44th Dana Lynch; 45th Bill Hamilton; 46th Peggy Donaldson Smith; 48th Tim Miley, Richard Iaquinta, Derek McIntyre and Wayne Worth; 49th Dave Gobel; 50th Mike Caputo, Linda Longstreth and Tim Manchin; 51stBarbara Fleischauer, Nancy Jamison, Billy Smerka Jr., Evan Hansen and John Williams; 52nd Steven Shaffer, 53rd Al Tomson; 55th Isaac Sponaugle; 57thBeverly Cookman Keadle; 59th Cat Webster; 60thGary “Peanut” Collis; 61st Jason Barrett; 62ndChristy Santana; 64th Barby Frankenberry; 65thSammi Brown; 66th David Dingess; 67th Rod Snyder