Posted on 11/13/2014 5:12:13 AM PST by 11th_VA
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Mark Maynard owns a used car lot, runs a towing business and spends his spare time on a professional drag racing pit crew. And despite not raising a dime for his Republican campaign and agreeing with his Democratic opponent on almost all the issues, he defeated West Virginia's longest-sitting state senator.
The same momentum helped Republicans win a U.S. Senate seat held for decades by a Democrat, sweep three congressional seats and take majorities in the Legislature for the first time in eight decades.
"Everybody's low approval rating of the president and the way he was running the country, I got some votes through that," said Maynard, 42.
Chafin, a Mingo County lawyer and once longtime Senate Majority Leader, had faced only a handful of scares since first winning his seat in 1982. All of them came from other factions of Democrats, though.
Before this election, Republicans only once fielded a candidate against Chafin in southern West Virginia, a 1990 landslide victory for the senator.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Not exactly beholding to any special interest group is he? Perhaps someone should have bought a used car, or several, while they had a chance. Too late!
Two words why Republicans are winning in West Virginia, “Coal Mines.”
I am sure obama regards the entire of West Virginia as hillbillies and rednecks not worth spit. I am sure West Virgina regards obama as a limousine liberal not worth spit. Personally I’ll take West Virginia.
Is this actually so? And, if so, how is this a good thing other than to show that to win as a Democrat you have to now run as a Republican? It doesn't advance our cause any.
Who really ever trusts a used car salesman? Things have to be really, really bad, and he gets elected without ever raising a dime.
Hear that, Joe Manchin?
Its the other way around. The democrat actually agrees with the Republican on supporting coal and being against gay marriage.
Another thread from a a little earlier this am.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3226461/posts?
GOP used car salesman tops senior West Virginia Senator
Ah! "I didn't agree with him. He agreed with me." Got it. Thanks ;^]
Spend a lot of time in SW VA and frequently visit WV. Loss of coal has gutted the economy, especially the local machine shops that repaired equipment. Gun rights is another big issue in WV. Tourism is growing but not enough to take up the economic loss of coal. I fail to see the logic that our not burning coal is required but other countries are free to do so, like their air emissions have no effect. EPA needs to be more reasonable in their actions and Congress needs to either reign them in or dissolve them.
“Hear that, Joe Manchin?” Joe hears it. He will be our 10th Senate pickup- bank on that.
Yeah its about as bad as it can get. I’m proud of my birth state. Its about time it started living up to the motta “Mountaineers are always free” rather than “Mountaineers can be bought off with freebies”.
I imagine coal is the answer, and as much as Obama said he was not on the ballot, he was very much on the ballot.
My wife’s a native West Virginian. She likes to say “West Virginians are pro-gun, pro-life, pro-coal, and pro-military, and will continue to vote that way as long as no one messes with their SSI checks and EBT cards.”
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