CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Cabell County State Senator Evan Jenkins (D-5th District) is still reportedly weighing a possible party switch and a run for Congress in West Virginia’s Third District next year.
Former state Republican Party Chairman Mike Stuart said Jenkins could start a trend with such a move.
“Most Democrats in West Virginia understand that they’re very different from the liberals Washington, the Obama Administration,” said Stuart.
But former state Democratic Party Chairman George Carenbauer said Jenkins should stay where he is. “I think he’s just being lured into something and I think he would lose,” said Carenbauer of a move that could pit Jenkins against longtime Third District Congressman Nick Rahall.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has targeted Rahall for defeat in 2014 but, so far, no Republican candidate has stepped forward to challenge the Congressman who was first elected in 1976 and has been reelected every two years since then.
Jenkins has served in the 5th Senate District, an area that covers parts of Cabell County and Wayne County, as a Democrat since 2002. Before that, he was a member of the state House of Delegates for three terms.
Stuart said Democrats in West Virginia are different from Democrats in Washington. “A lot of folks like Evan Jenkins are going to step forward and say, ‘I just don’t support that and folks like the current Congressman in the Third District need to go,'” he said.
Carenbauer, though, said Jenkins will not have the support he is being promised.
“The Republicans’ priority is going to be to protect their own incumbents, not to reach out and get a Democrat. So, when push comes to shove, the money won’t be there for Evan and Evan, I think, will make a big mistake if he does that,” he said.
Carenbauer said former state Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party to challenge Rahall in 2010 and lost.
Both Stuart and Carenbauer were guests on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”