Independent candidate Wes Holden of Kanawha County enters race for West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District
By Matthew Young, RealWV
“I feel that Republicans and Democrats care more about their party-interests than they do about the people of West Virginia, and I have an attitude of caring.”
That’s what Independent candidate and Kanawha County resident Wes Holden told RealWV on Thursday, regarding his decision to enter the race for the state’s 1st Congressional District. A military veteran and tenth-generation Mountaineer, Holden worked as a staff member for West Virginia’s former Senator and Governor Jay Rockefeller for nearly four decades.
“Since Rockefeller has retired, and I’ve been retired, I have people still calling me and saying, ‘Wes, we need help. How can we go about doing this, or doing that?’” Holden said. “In West Virginia, we’re in a tough spot now. I feel we need someone who can look after the needs of my fellow West Virginians.”
“That’s what I want to do – get out there and let them know that, hey, here’s someone who will blacken the eyes of all of those in office because he wants to help West Virginians,” Holden added.
As an Independent candidate without the backing of any major political party, Holden knows the battle ahead will be one fought mostly uphill.
“The big machine is the Republican machine,” Holden said. “The current Congresswoman has $17 million, so I cannot compete with that much money. But one of the things that I’ve got and I have been doing is visiting different communities, talking to different people and different groups, and they tell me that they will support me.”
“I think that if I run a campaign where I go to the people, talk to them, explain why they don’t have to settle for what’s going on today, and let them know that there’s someone out there who cares about them – when I was out collecting signatures, I was very encouraged,” Holden added.
The W.Va. Secretary of State’s Office requires candidates to collect a minimum of 2,272 valid signatures from potential supporters in order to be eligible for the pursuit of a Congressional District. Over the course of three months, Holden collected more than 3,600 signatures.
“What made it so interesting and so good, [people] told me they were tired of both parties, and they wanted to have another choice,” Holden said. “Not just settling between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, but someone who has a record of helping them. If I can get that message out there – I’m someone who cares, someone who wants to help you – I feel I can win.”
As for what West Virginians want and expect from their politicians, Holden thinks it’s very simple.
“We want to be treated with respect,” Holden said. “We want to earn a decent wage and have a decent living, and be able to provide for our families.”
“When I drive through the rural communities in certain areas of the state, and pass all the storefronts boarded up, it just breaks my heart,” Holden added. “Some of these areas, like in McDowell County, it leaves an ache in my heart. And some of these communities, think of what they’ve done for the State of West Virginia. Take the coal mining communities. Look at how much money has come out of those areas. Look at what the populations used to be. Some of these communities are still working and fighting to get clean water, to have sewers, to have nice places to walk through. They don’t even have that.”
“We’re not looking for handouts, but we want to be respected,” Holden noted. “Those are West Virginia values.”
West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District consists of Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Putnam, Raleigh, Roane, Summers, Wayne, Webster, Wirt, and Wyoming Counties, and is home to approximately 893,000 residents as of the 2020 census. The Holden campaign is entering what has already become a crowded field of candidates, including incumbent Republican Carol Miller and her primary challenger Derrick Evans, and Democrat Jim Umberger.
Holden said his priorities, if elected, would be protecting Social Security and Medicare, the health and safety of mine workers, new business recruitment, quality education, and putting an end to the drug epidemic.
“The state has received millions of dollars (from pharmaceutical settlements), and what I would like to do is put it into rehab programs, put it into social programs to help victims of drug abuse,” Holden explained. “They’re not bad people, they’re just victims. Give them the help they need and put them back into society.”
“Why do people start drugs in the first place?” Holden asked, rhetorically. “It’s because of hopelessness. That’s why we have such a severe epidemic in West Virginia – it’s hopelessness. People are just looking for a way out or a way to feel better. If we can improve the economy so people have better jobs, have better pay, things like that can turn around.”
“Drug problems, just like prostitution, are always going to be there,” Holden noted. “But if we can lessen the hopelessness of people wanting to turn to drugs, then I think we’re ahead of the game.”
To learn more about Wes Holden’s Congressional campaign, view his official Facebook page at @wesforwv, or visit wesforwv.com.
“I want people to know that I care,” Holden added. “I’m very concerned about the people in all aspects of West Virginia – seniors, young people. I care about them, and I want to make their lives better.”
Although as an Independent candidate, Wes Holden will not compete in the upcoming primaries, Primary Election Day in West Virginia is Tuesday, May 14. General Election is Tuesday, November 5.
