LEWISBURG (WVDN) – The West Virginia Daily News held their 2022 House and Senate Debate to a raucous crowd on Thursday evening, Oct. 27.
With House District 46 candidate Mike Honaker and House District 47 candidate Heather Hill not in attendance, District 46 candidate Paul Detch (D) faced off with District 47 incumbent Todd Longanacre (R) in the first debate of the evening.
Focusing on abortion, education, economy, climate change, and gun control, the two opposing candidates’ arguments were aligned with party lines.
Longancre praised road work and Republican’s work to reduce the deficit in Charleston, while also speaking out in favor of Amendments 2 and 4 which are on the ballot in the Nov. 8 general election.
Detch pushed back against Longanacre’s description of the state’s successes, highlighting that the state is losing 7,000 people per year due to lack of jobs and conservative policies.
In his opening statement, Detch said, “Years ago when I was in graduate school studying state in local economics, I read an article which said that one of the key factors in bringing business to a particular location was whether the women were willing to live there.”
For West Virginia to be a prosperous place, he said, “we have to stop this drain of people.”
Regarding abortion, Longanacre stated he would never support “killing babies,” while Detch recalled his personal experience with the death of his child who was born with a genetic disorder, stating that mothers need the opportunity to decide whether to have an abortion when faced with a child who will be born with such a disorder.
The two argued over the semantics of the current law and whether “nonviable fetus” language in the law is expansive enough.
As long as abortion is illegal in West Virginia, Detch said, “we need money for social services,” and as long as we have Republican leadership, he said, that won’t be done.
Longanacre countered that Republican leadership is working to finance foster care and streamline adoption.
“As long as we don’t stand up for life, we are no better than Nazis,” said Longanacre, his first reference to Nazis during the abortion debate.
Later, as they debated a social safety net necessary to support mothers and children in West Virginia, Longanacre said that Detch’s argument about Republican opposition to social safety nets was untrue, and that Detch’s misleading argument was “taking me back to 1938 Germany,” a statement that drew jeers from the audience.
The two also disagreed along party lines regarding climate change and the need to balance clean air and potable water with upholding business interests and coal mining.
Longanacre said he believed in climate change, but pushed back on it being caused by humans, arguing it has been taking place for 1,000 years.
“We want clean air, potable water,” he said, but he said it is “a joke” to go after job creators and manufacturers.
“It’s fear mongering,” he said. “I’m not willing to shut down business under the guise of saving the planet.”
Detch countered, “Climate change is real,” stating the greatest threat to worldwide democracy is climate change.
Longanacre arguedd, “We don’t want to give manufacturers a pass on polluting,” but as far as climate change goes, “God will take care of that.”
He also argued against Detch’s assertion about the threat of climate change to democracy. “The greatest threat to our country,” Longanacre said, “is Democrats.”
The gun control debate was a more nuanced one, given the rural culture of hunting in West Virginia.
Detch, true to his party, wished for more gun control, while Longanacre said mental illness is the cause of America’s gun death problem.
“I’m just asking for an adult discussion with no ‘oohs’ and ‘boos’” from the audience, Detch said, as the two struggled to be heard over the outcry to their answers.
“You should be able to defend your home, but the public has a right to defend itself against guns,” Detch said.
“My Bible is the Second Amendment,” said Longanacre. “If we disarm our community, we’ll go down a road we don’t want to.”
In part two of the debate, Senate District 10 candidates faced off.
Sen. Stephen Baldwin, the incumbent Democrat, debated Republican challenger Vince Deeds and Independent Aaron Ransom.
Ransom’s opening statement highlighted his choice to be an Independent candidate and his ability to “fill the gap” between the parties in Charleston.
Deeds encouraged the audience to “listen for the truth,” while Baldwin highlighted the work he has done in Charleston in his time serving West Virginia.
“West Virginia continues to come in last,” Ransom said. “We have to create change and invest in infrastructure, invest in our youth.”
Deeds praised the state economy, stating that since 2016, under conservative leadership, West Virginia has a $1.3 billion surplus in its coffers.
Baldwin, the sole incumbent in the senate debate and the Senate Minority Leader, agreed. “We are making good strides,” he said, citing recent funding for broadband in Greenbrier County. “We do it by working together … it gets contentious, but on 95% of the issues, we work together; we eat lunch together,” at the state capitol.
Deeds spoke in favor of Amendment 4 on the ballot, which will allow legislative oversight of the state board of education. The state board of education is unreachable, he said. “Do you know how to reach them? Most people don’t.”
Baldwin spoke against Amendment 4, stating there is already a legislative committee that oversees the state board of education.
As for Amendment 2, Baldwin said he is against it. “It removes guaranteed school funding,” he said.
Ransom said he wants to hold the state board of education accountable. “I’m for them both,” he said of the amendments on the ballot.
Regarding the topic of abortion, Baldwin argued that the law outlawing abortion has been passed, and “the issue is settled now in West Virginia. We need to support children.”
Ransom stated simply, “I’ll never apologize for being prolife. My rights do not end where someone else’s begin. My rights were endowed unto me … abortion is not health care. It’s literally murder.”
“I am 110% prolife,” said Deeds. “I’m encouraged to have an opportunity to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
During the abortion debates, the audience became louder, cheering and jeering for the candidates as they delivered their remarks, leading the moderator to remind the audience to allow the men to speak.
The audience was giving a break when the conversation shifted to climate change, which led to a nuanced discussion of economy versus the environment.
Deeds seemed amenable to green energy, and the need for a beautiful state to support the tourism industry. However, he cautioned about moving too quickly from natural resources as an economic driver for West Virginia. “Coal is still important and perishable. We need to transition while maintaining what we have.”
Baldwin spoke out about the state of the West Virginia climate. “We have more floods, more severe storms, costing every one of us more money.” Baldwin also pointed to a new economic opportunity for West Virginia in the form of rare minerals, stating that the state has them, and WVU is a premier research team looking at the viability of extracting them.
Ransom wondered whether the threat of climate change is a “scare tactic” to push the population toward electric vehicles. “They’re weaponizing climate change to move away from coal … we cannot just jump. We have go into it intelligently.”
Like the House candidates, the senate candidates also had a nuanced discussion of guns and gun control for the most part, with Baldwin calling for incentives to encourage West Virginians to espouse “common-sense gun responsibility” including gun safes and concealed carry classes.
Ransom said, “I’m a huge proponent of Second Amendment rights. If you want to buy a gun, buy a gun. If you want to buy a tank, buy a tank.” He continued that he has taught gun safety for his “whole life,” and that he worried that video games and movies make shooting people look appealing.
Vince Deeds, a retired police officer, said this: “We have a crime problem. We have a mental health problem,” and stated that the state needs to invest in mental health programs and crime prevention programs in order to address gun safety.
The formal questions were followed by more direct questioning and further questions from the audience, who drilled the candidates on such topics as CRT, abortion, birth control, and funding higher education.
One audience member pushed hard on Baldwin’s vote against outlawing abortion during this summer’s special session, asking several versions of the same question demanding to know whether the senator is prolife or prochoice. Baldwin’s patience seemed stretched thin at this particular audience member, whom Baldwin referenced as a person who “trolls” his Facebook page.
Off stage, two audience members challenged Longanacre when he came off stage, condemning his Nazi references during the House debate. One witness referred to the Longanacre as “trapped” by the protestors.
At another moment during the debate, a male audience member grabbed a female audience member, and Lewisburg police had to intervene.
Following the debate, one audience member on Facebook posted that the audience was “loud, accusatory, (and) embarrassing. The audience was out of control, booing, interrupting, catcalling candidates.”
The West Virginia Daily News had requested that police officers be present at the debate at Carnegie Hall should tensions become too strained.
The Facebook poster said they felt unnerved by the police presence at the debate.
“(I) think it is so sad and unfortunate that folks nowadays are so quick to fight, threaten, not listen and try to understand, find compromise, at least respect others’ rights to opinion, and vote,” the post said.
Early voting in Greenbrier County began Oct. 26 and takes place at the Greenbrier County Courthouse in Lewisburg and at the Rupert Community Center. The general election is set for Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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| Todd Longanacre (left) and Paul Detch face off at the WVDN debate. |
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| Sen. Stephen Baldwin |
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| Vince Deeds |
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| Aaron Ransom |
