{"id":4097,"date":"2019-06-26T13:26:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T17:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=4097"},"modified":"2019-06-26T14:48:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T18:48:21","slug":"stephen-smith-back-in-berkeley-springs-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=4097","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Smith Back in Berkeley Springs Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stephen Smith will be back in Berkeley Springs this Friday June 28 at 1 pm at the Ravenwood Pub. Smith is <a href=\"https:\/\/wvcantwait.com\/\">running for Governor of West Virginia as a Democrat.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JIhuME5OiQY\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re doing more than 10,000 face-to-face, one-on-one conversations with West Virginians this summer,\u201d Smith said. \u201cMy job \u2013 any candidate\u2019s job \u2013 is not to speak for the people of West Virginia. My job is to be led by them. That\u2019s why we\u2019re starting with listening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why would Smith want to run in the Democratic Party, a party that is now top heavy and controlled by corporations?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith said that sometimes the Democratic Party of West Virginia does represent the people of West Virginia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDuring the teacher\u2019s strike, the Democratic Party chose the right side,\u201d Smith told Russell Mokhiber, host of <em>This Week in Morgan County.<\/em> \u201cThere are moments when it does (represent the people of West Virginia). But we want a party that does so every time and without apology. And that means candidates not taking corporate money. But it also means changing who runs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith has <a href=\"https:\/\/wvcantwait.com\/pledge\/\">put forth a pledge for candidates.<\/a> The candidates pledge not to take corporate money, stand on the side of working people, do the work of town halls and face-to-face meetings with constituents and promise never to \u201cpunch down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you are willing to make those promises and run this kind of campaign, we will help,\u201d Smith said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do it by yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forty-one candidates have already signed the Smith candidate pledge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But as of right now, the party is still controlled by the corporate Democrats, led by Senator Joe Manchin. <a href=\"http:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2019\/06\/14\/homesick-manchin-leaning-more-toward-governors-race\/\">News outlets are reporting in recent months<\/a> that Manchin is seriously considering a run for Governor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is Smith\u2019s take on Manchin?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSenator Manchin is the best retail politician in the country,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThat being said, on a lot of the big issues of the day, we disagree. Time and again, he seeks out a position that will make both corporations and unions happy, as opposed to standing squarely on the side of working people. There have been moments over the years where we worked together. We worked very closely when he came out in favor of defending expanded Medicaid for West Virginians. We worked together to hold five major town halls across the state. But on the fundamental issues of standing on the side of poor and working people every time, we depart.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Has Smith talked with Senator Manchin about the campaign?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOnly briefly,\u201d Smith said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What was the conversation like?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis was months ago and while he was still in his campaign for Senate,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere is a good outcome within reach. We can have Senator Manchin stay in his term, finish his term and help make sure Democrats regain control of the Senate which has to happen if people want any kind of advance on labor rights, criminal justice, health care &#8212; you name it. Without a Democratic Senate, those things aren\u2019t going to move. If he leaves the Senate, it\u2019s almost impossible for that kind of change to happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the odds Senator Manchin will run for Governor?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI call it fifty\/fifty,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut (even if Manchin gets in the race) it won\u2019t change what we do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How does the campaign change if Manchin runs for Governor?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe brings a lot of money into the campaign,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe has been in politics long enough and shown a willingness to take corporate cash, which we won\u2019t. He can pump a bunch of money into the campaign. But people are more and more suspicious of that. In a Democratic primary, the Senator is vulnerable in part because there are a lot of Democrats who want to see him stay in the Senate. But also because there is a new generation of folks in West Virginia coming up and an older generation of former Democrats who are looking for a return to a working class Democratic politics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf he enters the race, I think we will have a good chance of winning that race. But the best case scenario for him, for the party, for the people of West Virginia is for him to finish the term and throw his considerable weight to whoever emerges from the primary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen Smith will be back in Berkeley Springs this Friday June 28 at 1 pm at the Ravenwood Pub. Smith is running for Governor of West Virginia as a Democrat. \u201cWe\u2019re doing more than 10,000 face-to-face, one-on-one conversations with West &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=4097\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4097"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4104,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions\/4104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}