West Virginia Voters Confront GOP Candidates Skeptical Of 2020 Election Results

WEST CHARLESTON, WV – There won’t be many prominent candidates on the ballot in any statewide contest who openly concede that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election when West Virginia Republicans cast their ballots in the primary on Tuesday.

In one of the states where Republicans supporting former President Donald Trump are most devoted, embracing or eschewing election denialism has become an unspoken litmus test for them. What is spoken, nearly nonstop, is appreciation for the party’s front-runner for the presidency from a group of contenders that includes the sons of two Republican members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation and an insurrectionist who was found guilty on January 6.

Denying the results of the election is a “purity test” for West Virginia Republicans, according to Glenn Elliott, a Democratic candidate for an open Senate seat.

“You will either be expelled or you will agree with the party leader on all issues. He referred to them as “RINOs,” or “Republicans In Name Only,” saying that they were no longer Republicans. “There’s a cult there, not a party.”

It’s pretty much the worst thing a West Virginia Republican candidate can be called.

Secretary of State Mac Warner, like Trump, has stated that he “firmly” believes the election was rigged in the crowded governor’s contest, despite the fact that numerous courts and audits have concluded that Biden was the winner.

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The media, tech corporations, and federal intelligence officials allegedly colluded to conceal damaging material discovered on Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop, according to Warner, whose office is in charge of overseeing West Virginia’s elections.

After years of staying in the political mainstream for the 2020 race, Warner made his announcement a few months ago. The ex-Army veteran claimed that his political opinions are unrelated to seeking public office.

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In response to a query from The Associated Press, former state legislator Moore Capito—an additional contender for governor—stated, “Donald Trump won West Virginia in a landslide.” “And I just wish that elections across the nation were conducted as we do here in the state of West Virginia.”

Some contenders avoid direct answers or give evasive answers.

When asked if Biden won the 2020 election, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has declined to say “yes” or “no,” but he has stated that there were “huge irregularities,” “significant irregularities,” and “very, very severe issues” around that vote.

People do not trust mail-in ballots, according to businessman Chris Miller, a gubernatorial contender as well as the son of U.S. Representative Carol Miller. Whether he believed Biden to be the rightful winner was left unsaid.

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He stated, “That’s one thing if you are voting in person and witness your vote being cast.” He went on, “You can’t see it with mail-in ballots. There is danger since you have no idea what has transpired.

Former state legislator Derrick Evans, who was sentenced to three months in prison for taking part in the disturbance at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, has intensified his verbal assaults on his main opponent. Both a “undocumented Democrat” and a “commie RINO,” he claims Carol Miller “refused to stand and fight with President Trump.”

Never mind that during Trump’s tenure in the House, Miller voted almost exclusively in favour of him.

In an interview, Evans expressed his belief that Trump’s readiness to support him and claim the election was rigged will help him win, despite the fact that Miller voted to contest the Electoral College results in two states that Biden won just hours after Evans and other rioters invaded the Capitol.

“Ensuring that all Americans have access to free, fair, and accurate elections” was her constitutional duty, she said in a statement at the time.

Evans is undeterred, claiming his role in the violent attack on the Capitol as a badge of honor.

“I believe that people will take seriously that I am the right person to represent this district on a national platform when they realise that I am the only elected legislator in the entire nation who had the guts to oppose the rigged election and the guts to stand up beside President Trump on January 6,” the lawmaker stated.

Carol Miller left out any mention of the 2020 outcome in her email to the AP. Nevertheless, she claimed to be the only contestant who “has never been a registered Democrat or run for office as a Democrat.”

In the West Virginia governor’s race, all four major candidates are in lockstep on supporting the state’s coal industry, imposing stiffer penalties for fentanyl dealers and the importance of economic development.

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Morrisey, the fundraising front-runner, tossed the “RINO” label at Capito, who is regarded as his main competitor. Morrissey cited a February 2024 social media post from Donald Trump Jr. criticizing a vote by Capito’s mother, Republican Sen.

Shelley Moore Capito, to send aid to Ukraine. “She’s not up for reelection this year, but her RINO son is running for Governor of West Virginia,” Trump Jr. said.

“MAGA – Send a message to the Ukraine First RINOs & OPPOSE,” he said, referring to Donald Trump’s “Make American Great Again” movement.

Morrisey, in an interview, connected the dots.

“I think the choice is very clear: You have a conservative fighter with a record of getting big things done, and you have members of political royalty, part of the liberal establishment,” Morrisey said.

Moore Capito has since taken every opportunity to make sure voters know where his loyalty lies. In a Republican gubernatorial forum hosted by television station WSAZ, candidates were asked what they could do to help people on fixed incomes struggling to pay their bills amid frequent utility rate increases.

“That’s why it’s incredibly important that we elect Donald Trump as president,” Capito said, after condemning a recently released Biden administration rule that would force coal-fired power plants to capture their emissions or shut down.

Ironically, Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who is running for the Senate seat held by retiring Democrat Joe Manchin, is the only candidate to garner the coveted Trump endorsement in any primary race. And Justice has disagreed with Trump more than most candidates. For example, the governor supported the bipartisan infrastructure act that poured millions of dollars into the state to build out broadband and roads.

Alex Mooney, a congressman running against Justice in the primary, has called Justice a “RINO” at every opportunity. Justice, a former billionaire businessman with a folksy personality that has won him a devoted following, was initially elected as a Democrat in 2017 before becoming a Republican at a Trump rally early in his term. Mooney voted against the infrastructure bill.

Mooney has said he recognizes Biden as president but feels the 2020 election was not a fair one. He voted not to certify Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania.

Justice, asked during a news briefing this past week whether he thinks Biden won legitimately, took a defiant tone even as he hedged: “What does it matter? I mean, what in the world does it matter?”

The governor then spun a story he has told often about something his father told him when he was competing in golf tournaments as a young man.

“Dad would tell me, ‘Son, the only shot that matters in golf is the next shot. If you made a hole in one as your last shot, well, so what?”