Posted on 10/13/2023 6:16:03 AM PDT by cotton1706
Doug Skaff, who for the past couple of years has served as leader of the Democratic caucus in the House of Delegates, today said he has changed his registration to Republican and will run statewide for Secretary of State.
“I’m not the first person to switch parties, and I won’t be the last,” Skaff said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“Let’s be honest, the Republican Party took the last two registrations by storm, but it wasn’t because 100,000 Republicans just moved to West Virginia. These were hardcore West Virginians who were pro-life, pro-gun, pro-coal, pro-gas and they all switched parties. So like a lot of West Virginians, you know, my ideals never changed. I was always that way as well. I was registered a Democrat, and I’m proud to be on the Republican team and just can’t relate to the national party any more.”
His party switch and candidacy received a skeptical response from the West Virginia Republican Party. A statement from state party chairwoman Elgine McArdle said the GOP welcomes people who join as a matter of priorities and principles. But McArdle’s statement questioned whether that applies to Skaff.
“The West Virginia Republican Party recognizes the philosophical nuances that can exist within the Party and welcomes those who genuinely believe in our cause; however, Republican voters are sometimes tasked with differentiating between ‘philosophical nuances’ and ‘diametric ideological opposition.’ Now that Skaff is labeling himself as a ‘Republican,’ despite his storied liberal record in the House, the upcoming primary is one of those times,” McArdle stated.
(Excerpt) Read more at wvmetronews.com ...
You're not fooling anybody, Doug!
West Virginia is just stupid allowing democrats to pose as republicans.
Don’t follow WV politics close enough to know if this guy can pull off the switcheroo.
Reality is the Democrats have gone absolutely crazy, and are utterly out of step with all but the most left wing of their base.
Dems stabbed WV in the back way back during Clinton, and the state has steadily moved Republican and never looked back.
Remember, if WV had simply stayed Democrat, which it had been for since 1932, other than 3 blow out republican presidential re-elections until 2000, in 2000, Gore would have been president. Clinton and the lefts war on coal and decency turned WV solid RED since 2000, and the trend isn’t about to change.
Yes some remnants of the old D guard still linger on.. but not for much longer.
The party left sanity along time ago, not sure if a switcheroo this late in the game can sell.. guess we’ll see
1. Skaff is no conservative; he’s a moderate but he’s sure as hell right about this:
“...it wasn’t because 100,000 Republicans just moved to West Virginia. These were hardcore West Virginians who were pro-life, pro-gun, pro-coal, pro-gas and they all switched parties.”
2. WV lurched to the right during the Obama years (not the Clinton years) following the Democrat War on Coal which also caused adjacent areas in eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia to do the same. Parts of southwestern PA and eastern OH fit that profile too, to some extent.
Bonzo and the Democrats had no qualms about impoverishing a lot of White people and putting them out of work — Appalachia being the only significant area of the U.S. where TRUE poverty exists; not urban ghettos — nor about permanently losing this area which has very few electoral votes anyway.
3. Skaff isn’t going to win anything in 2024. There are several GOP candidates for Secretary of State and ZERO Democrats. If Skaff remained a Democrat he’d make it to the general election easily — and then get crushed. So all that changes is now he gets to be crushed in the Republican primary.
This guy will soon be one of those ‘lesser of two evils’ that the foot stomping nags here will demand that WV votes for or else the democrat will get elected.
Correct. W needed every single EV in 2000.Floridas 25 EV only put him 2 EV to win. WVs 5, NHs 3, MT, ND, etc all mattered. Including Gores own TN. Hehehehe!
Changed his registration but not his morals or ideas.
Is he a woman now as well?
Obama lurch was just overdrive... the move began after Clinton.
Under Clinton the National Party PURGED all the blue dogs, and began its war on coal... which is why Gore lost WV in 2000 and WV hasn’t looked back.
Remember if Gore had just won WV, like every democrat in an open election had done for nearly 70 years, he would have been president. FL would not have mattered.
As to Skaff getting crushed, I would like to assume he would be, but as I said I don’t follow WV closely enough to know.
I am hard pressed to believe a high level prominent democrat can change parties this late and the game and win a statewide Republican primary in WV...but not being on the ground there, can only say that’s my belief... I don’t have the boots on the ground knowledge to put certainty behind it.
Manchin has been able to hold on, due to popularity holdover from his time as governor.. but even he’s DOA any more. Frankly, had the GOP had a DECENT candidate last cycle, I believe he could have been beat Morrissey was an aweful candidate IMHO, and only wound up losing by about 19k votes.
Pretty much agree!
Morrissey has a boring public presence but has been excellent state AG. His other problem is, he is a carpetbagger! He came to WV to have a political career he couldn’t have in NJ. Being a native is a factor here (Very true with the older folk!) and being from out-of-state and only here to have a political career was resented Manchin also played on that. Almost every Manchin political commercial highlighted that he was a native and that Morrissey wasn’t. However, I think Morrissey’s performance as AG has more then negated that.
“As to Skaff getting crushed, I would like to assume he would be, but as I said I don’t follow WV closely enough to know.”
Skaff is the 7th “Republican” to enter the SOS race for 2024 and my guess is that Del. Chris Pritt (who is pretty darn conservative and an actual Republican to boot) is the favorite; I don’t see Skaff even being a threat for second place at this point. But we’ll see how much of the Big Money gets behind him and tries to puff him up — and how much the WVGOPe is scared of a conservative being in charge of elections.
As for Morrissey, he is in his 3rd term of being elected statewide in WV (Attorney General) and only lost in 2018 because of not being an authentic hillbilly (he’s from New Jersey — OMG!). He is running for Governor and whoever wins the GOP primary is a mortal lock to win next November. It’s between Morrissey and Moore Capito, a squish who is the son of the even more squishy U.S. Senator Shelley Capito.
Manchin will never win another election and is about 10-1 odds to not even try again in West Virginia.
Is not being an imposter the definition of a Republican? That and remember Republicans in office in South Carolina were Democrats just over a generation ago.
You have a point. That said, if someone switches party, they should have a 10 year waiting period before being able to run for office under their new party. Too many finger in the wind politicians.
Check
The National Republican Party has been allowing democrats to masquerade as republicans for decades. Politicians love feeding at the public trough a lot more than they do honesty and integrity. They willingly pretend to be anything that helps them keep their place at the trough.
My commentary about Morrissey was not an indictment of the job he is currently doing, or done, but it was clear watching him campaign he just was not a great retail politician… that’s what I mean by a weak candidate he really had no presence.
I really think if WV GOP had had a stronger candidate last cycle Manchin would have lost. This cycle unless the GOP put up a total turd, they should easily oust Manchin
ROFL!!! That's a blazing tip-off that what follows is pure bullcrap.
You have to drill down to the PRECINCT level to find any concentration of democrats: mainly around Shepherdstown, Morgantown, and Charleston.
Agree!
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