Where the Action Is
Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you are lined up to enjoy a wonderful holiday with friends and family. Evelyn and I are hosting family members – we’ve ordered a turkey to make sure that we don’t mess it up.
I’m writing about something you may have seen in the news; I’ve endorsed David McKinley for re-election to Congress in West Virginia. I’m very excited about it.
First some background - Congressional district lines are being redrawn, as they are once every 10 years in line with population changes in the Census. The way the math works is that the number of House seats – 435 – remains constant but the population shifts. Some states gain seats – this time Texas gained two seats and Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Montana and Oregon gained one seat each. Some states lose a seat – this time New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia each lost a House seat.
Nationally, this probably makes the House a bit more Republican, as the states that gained seats are a bit redder.
Congressional lines are being redrawn in every state around the country regardless of whether the seat count remained the same or not. This process is controlled at the state level. In a handful of states – like Virginia and Washington – there is a bipartisan redistricting commission. This is, of course, vastly preferable. But for the most part it’s state legislators and party officials drawing the lines. If you are the party in control, you want to help your side by making formerly competitive seats ‘safe’ and reduce the number of competitive seats.
It turns out that neither party likes actually competing. The number of swing districts is declining fast, with 5 competitive districts already swapped out for a very blue or very red district. The 83% of non-competitive seats will rise to 90%.
That is life in a duopoly.
A lack of competitive races means that the vast majority of the action will be in the party primaries. That’s where 9 out of 10 of the races will be decided.
West Virginia lost a Congressional district. That means that two current members of Congress – David McKinley and Alex Mooney – will square off for one seat. It being West Virginia, as you’d imagine, both are Republican.
I met Rep. McKinley during the summer of 2020. Humanity Forward was looking for Republican members of Congress to co-sponsor a cash relief bill during the pandemic. David stepped up. He decided to co-sponsor the initial bill with Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware.
A Republican from West Virginia and a Democrat from Delaware made quite a formidable demonstration of the depth and breadth of support for cash relief. David’s leadership was one big reason that Americans got stimulus checks.
David led again when he became one of only 13 Republican House members to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill that just passed Congress. He knew it would help his constituents in West Virginia, in part because he’d worked in construction. He knew what the jobs, livelihoods and improvements would mean to the people around him.
Of course, this being 2021, he’s being criticized for doing what he thinks is right by Alex Mooney, his opponent, who has been backed by Trump.
David McKinley is exactly the kind of representative we need in Congress. Someone who has his own moral compass and will do what he believes is in the best interests of the people of West Virginia.
I’m supporting David McKinley’s re-election and I hope that you will too. His primary is on May 12th, less than 6 months away. In a race like his, every donation will make a huge difference.
Thanks for reading. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday with loved ones!! I’ve been looking forward to this holiday myself for a while now. I’m ever-thankful for the YangGang. :)
Yours gratefully,
- Andrew
