On Oct. 25, The West Virginia Daily News received a copy of a letter that House of Delegates District 47 candidate Heather Hill sent to her supporters on Sept. 7. In the letter, Hill states that she is discontinuing her campaign.
The letter states, in full,
“Dear Friends and Supporters,
It’s untimely and with much reluctance that I must discontinue my candidacy for House of Delegates, District 47 of Greenbrier County.
On Thursday, August 31st my employer selected me for management level responsibilities that will be rewarding for my career but greatly conflict with campaigning. And, as many of you know, after filing for office my employer has warned repeatedly that should win the election they will cease my employment. Therefore, the benefit of this promotion while not diminishing my passion for women’s health and social equalities outweighs the futility of campaigning poorly and losing or, alternatively, should I refuse the promotion, campaigning strongly and winning but leaving me with a salary below poverty level. I had recognized these alternatives previously, but the challenge and reward of this new position changes my perspective.
I will be returning 100% of contributions received, having only spent $500 for the primary while conserving for the fall campaign. If you wish that your contribution be forwarded to the Greenbrier Democratic Executive Committee to support their efforts for other candidates, please let me know.
I wish circumstances were different. Thank you for the support and encouragement you’ve given, from the depths of my heart.
With much gratitude,
Heather E. Hill, MA, LSW, RMT, tts”
Also on Oct. 25, a copy of the letter appeared on the Facebook page of Greenbrier County Republican Executive Committee Chair Ben Anderson and on the Facebook page of Del. Todd Longanacre, Hill’s opponent.
Anderson, an elected official, added the following statement to the image of the letter. “PLEASE NOTE: Heather Hill, Democrat candidate vs Republican Todd Longanacre, discontinued her campaign for Delegate on September 7th. However, she never publicly stated her discontinuance.
Please vote for incumbent Todd Longanacre. If the Dems win with the name “Heather Hill”, Paul Detch and the local Democrat committee will get to put whoever they want in that seat.”
Longanacre shared Anderson’s post and image of the letter to his delegate Facebook page.
The West Virginia Daily News attempted to contact Hill on Oct. 25. As of the end of business day she had not returned our call. We also spoke with the Greenbrier County Democratic Executive Committee, who shared the following statement:
“On September 7, candidate Heather Hill of the 47 Delegate District sent a letter to her supporters discontinuing her candidacy. What this means is that she is still on the ballot but is not actively campaigning. If Heather is successful in winning the election but declines to accept, the Greenbrier County Democratic Executive Committee will have the opportunity, following community input, to select three people to send to Governor Justice to choose as a replacement.
Heather agreed to (this) and is supporting us in our bid to defeat Todd Longanacre. Todd’s extreme views and hypocrisy are dangerous for the citizens of Greenbrier County, and this issue is bigger than the candidate.
Although Todd purports to hate big government, he wants the legislature to oversee our schools. He wants the County Commission to oversee our health department. He is pushing legislation that will defund our firefighters, schools, librarians, and EMS services. During the height of the pandemic, he stated that he would not take community action until 15% of our citizens had died. He was willing to let almost 5,000 of our friends and neighbors lose their lives before acting.
It is because of these actions and others that we will continue to support Heather’s candidacy on the ballot. We cannot afford two more years of Todd Longanacre.”
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