Take a look at these three maps.
They are the building blocks for democracy here in Morgan County.
Those living in House District 89 are being represented by Darren Thorne.
Those living in House District 90 are being represented by George Miller.
And those living in State Senate District 15 were being represented in the Senate by Charles Trump, until he resigned last week to take a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court — and by Tom Willis, who will be taking the seat of Craig Blair in January.
The Governor will soon appoint someone to take Trump’s seat in the Senate through the end of 2026, when a new election will be held.
Both Thorne and Miller are also up for re-election in 2026. (Members of the House of Delegates serve two years, while Senators serve four years.)
In West Virginia, as in the rest of the country, both political parties are corrupt to the core.
The Democratic Party of West Virginia is not just corrupt, it’s also inept.
Of the one hundred House of Delegates seats, six are held by Democrats. Of the 34 Senate seats, two are held by Democrats.
(As for the quailty of the members being elected to the House of Delegates, check out one Mr. Joseph de Soto, who was just elected the House from District 91, one district to the east of us in Berkeley County. Mr. de Soto was arrested on Thursday for making threats against his Republican colleagues, who had moved to have him removed from the Republican caucus. He switched from being a Republican to being a Democrat one day before being arrested.)
In non-presidential election years, about 5,000 people vote in our House of Delegates districts.
And about 36,000 people vote in our state Senate district.
That means, to be safe, you need maybe 3,000 votes to win a House of Delegates seat and 19,000 votes to win a Senate seat.
To get on the ballot as a “no party” (or independent) candidate, you need “not less than one percent of the entire vote cast at the last preceding general election for the office being sought.”
That means we would need to get about 360 signatures to get on the ballot as an independent for the state Senate and 50 signatures to get on the ballot as an independent for the House of Delegates.
Consider it like a high school civics class project.
But with real life implications.
There is real trouble brewing here in West Virginia.
Most people are living paycheck to paycheck.
Most people don’t know where they could put their hands on a few thousand dollars if they needed it in an emergency.
Most people are in a precarious situation financially.
Who speaks for this vast majority?
Not the Democrats.
Not the Republicans.
Both are toxic brands, tainted by corporate money and corrupt baggage.
Time to start over.
Step by step.
Independents for Morgan County will be organizing in the new year.
If you are interested in discussing this person to person independent movement, drop us a line.
We can do better than the corrupt and incompetent Republicans and Democrats.