CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Delegate Chris Stansbury announced Tuesday he’s running as a Republican candidate for the state Senate’s 17th District in 2016.
Stansbury, an optometrist and small business owner in Charleston, would potentially run against current seat holder Corey Palumbo (D-Kanawha, 17) who plans on running for reelection.
“A seat in the Senate will enable me to better represent the citizens of Kanawha County,” said Stansbury. “(It will) give me a better opportunity to help set some of the legislative action and tone in the Legislature and move things forward along at a better pace.”
One of the main areas Stansbury said he wants to focus on, if elected, is West Virginia’s drug epidemic surrounding addiction. HE said the first step is providing education to a much younger group of kids.
“Typically we start working in middle school and high school talking to them about the dangers of drugs, but unfortunately kids are getting involved with drugs at a much younger age these days. We can’t discount how important it is that we educate our citizens and our young people on the dangers of addiction,” he said.
Stansbury also said there needs to be more treatment available to drug addicts, citing the numbers of beds the state lacks to deal with the demand.
“As a state, we have to look at the undeserved areas and makes sure that as a legislative body, if there are certain funds that can be taken from certain places and put into others, then we can direct that toward treatment centers,” he said.
When asked on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” what kind of Republican he was, Stansbury said he tends to be socially and fiscally conservative.
“I try not to put labels on myself,” he said. “I don’t try to align myself with any one particular segment of the Republican party. I don’t necessarily believe that is useful or helpful in all circumstances.”
Stansbury said thoughts of potentially matching up with Palumbo would amount to somewhat of a challenge.
“I don’t have any type of ill-feelings toward him. I would certainly like the opportunity to run a clean campaign and talk about things that we’re capable of,” said Stansbury.