No child should be limited in life by the school district they were born into. In 2025, our House of Delegates paid $114,000 in taxpayer funds for a study to address our public school funding crisis, and then enacted none of the study’s recommendations. This is unacceptable. West Virginia cannot thrive without a strong school system that prepares our children for the future and keeps young families in our state.

Here in the Eastern Panhandle, we cannot retain qualified teachers because we don’t compete with the pay offered in neighboring Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. We must fix this. We cannot expect to improve educational outcomes while we’re experiencing critical teacher shortages.

Communities should not be asked to bear the risks of high-impact data centers without a say in where and how these projects happen. House Bill 2014, passed in 2025, strips counties and towns of all decision-making power over data centers. While other states are moving to protect their citizens, our government is cutting us out of the process. HB 2014 must be amended to restore community control. Strong and publicly defined guardrails must also be put into place to protect our groundwater, utility costs, and local resources.  

I’ve worked odd jobs alongside my main employment for most of my adult life. I know what it’s like to come home exhausted and still worry about affording groceries. The needs of working people should be at the center of our agenda. This includes: promoting affordable home construction and childcare access; addressing utility costs through appropriate checks and balances on the PSC; tax policy that serves the average working person; and protecting workers’ rights to advocate for better pay and working conditions. 

I am the only one of my friends from childhood who calls West Virginia home today. I’ve heard the same from too many others. In Charleston, I will work to invest in our young people through job training, smart development, and recreation opportunities for people of all ages. We all benefit when our young people are able to stay, work, and raise their families here.

Our state government is failing its responsibilities if West Virginians can’t turn on their tap and drink the water that comes out. Sadly, that’s the case for over 65,000 residents in our state. We must make the appropriate investments in our infrastructure now and set responsible stewardship standards for corporations doing business in West Virginia. 

No other state loses more of its residents to addiction than West Virginia. Yet we are the only state to have a moratorium on new methadone clinics, a proven addiction treatment. We owe it to our communities to pursue evidence-based treatment and investment to solve our state’s addiction problem. Our communities are safer and our economies are stronger when our neighbors are free of addiction.