HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — With four days before the election, West Virginia candidates are hoping national political figures will spur enough excitement in their campaigns to win on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump held his third general election rally in West Virginia on Friday at Huntington Tri-State Airport. On the other side of the political aisle, U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., was on the ground to help Democrats in two House of Representatives contests.
Trump brought with him an overarching message of electing Republicans, specifically mentioning state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in the U.S. Senate contest and Delegate Carol Miller, R-Cabell, in the race for the 3rd Congressional District. He also announced support for state Supreme Court Justice Tim Armstead, who attended the rally.
“This election will decide whether we build on the extraordinary prosperity that we’ve unleashed — no one can believe what’s happened — or whether we let the radical Democrats take control of Congress and take a giant wrecking ball to our economy and to our future,” the president said.
Trump touted the national economic progress, including Friday’s news from the U.S. Department of Labor that American employers added 250,000 jobs in October.
“More Americans — today, right now, this hour — are working than ever before in the history of this country. How good is that?” he said. “How do you lose that debate when we’re debating a lefty?”
Trump mentioned multiple times his success in West Virginia during the 2016 presidential election; he won the state by 42 percentage points over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“We overperformed, let’s put it that way. West Virginia is very happy. Coal is coming back and our miners are working again,” he said.
Despite Trump’s satisfaction with the nation’s current economic state, political analysts say Democrats are likely to take control of the House of Representatives while Republicans will keep the Senate.
“If the Democrats take power, they will try to erase our gains and eradicate our progress,” Trump said. “They are going to work hard, and we will be fighting. It will be ridiculous, frankly, and it could happen. We’re doing very well — and we’re doing very well in the Senate — but it could happen.”
Trump jabbed Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and state Sen. Richard Ojeda, D-Logan, who is running in the 3rd District.
Trump noted Manchin’s late announcement regarding confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the high court. Trump said he was pushing Manchin to support confirmation leading up to the vote last month.
Manchin was the only Democrat to vote in favor of confirmation.
“We had all the votes, so we didn’t need Joe’s vote. And he pressed that button. I think it was about one-eighth of one second after we had the final vote from (Maine Senator) Susan Collins, who did us a good job,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Joe, that doesn’t count!'”
Manchin said during a debate with Morrisey on Thursday he wanted to review all the information on Kavanaugh — including a report on accusations of sexual misconduct — before making a decision.
Morrisey and Miller spoke at the rally alongside Trump as well as before he arrived. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Gov. Jim Justice were on stage prior to the president’s remarks.
“I will never apologize for defending President Trump, nor will I kneel to the altar of Hillary Clinton, (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer or (House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,” Morrisey said. “President Trump needs a staunch ally in the U.S. Senate. I will be that ally.”
Trump joked he would support impeaching Morrisey if he ever voted against his agenda.
During her remarks, Miller touched on hot conservative issues.
“You can always count on me to put America first, fight for coal, grow our economy, protect our Social Security and Medicare, embrace our veterans and strengthen our borders,” she said to applause.
When he returned to the podium, Trump went after Ojeda, calling him a “radical left-winger.”
“If you don’t want to be saying the words Speaker Pelosi — who will end your coal business — you need to vote for Carol Miller,” he added.
Ojeda has said he would not support Pelosi’s bid for the speakership if Democrats win control of the House of Representatives.
Analysis of the contest ranges from it being considered a “toss-up” to likely to go in Millers’ favor.
Republicans have shifted their campaign strategy in recent weeks to health care following Democratic arguments on pre-existing conditions; Democratic candidates have said the Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act would have left individuals with pre-existing conditions without insurance coverage, with Manchin criticizing Morrisey for his involvement in a lawsuit arguing the health care law as unconstitutional.
“Republicans will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions. We’re all doing that,” Trump said.
Manchin held a rally in Fairmont while the president was in Huntington.
“As President Trump visits West Virginia again, even he can’t cover up and hide Patrick Morrisey’s record,” Manchin said in a video.
“Patrick Morrisey filed a lawsuit to take health care coverage away from 800,000 West Virginians. He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare. And he lobbied for the opioid industry, and the Morrisey lobbying firm still makes money from pills coming in that’s destroying West Virginia. This must stop. Patrick, you can’t cover up your record.”
Manchin has led Morrisey in most polls, including the MetroNews Dominion Post West Virginia Poll released Thursday; Manchin has a 5 percentage point advantage over Morrisey in that poll.
Away from the airport, Rep. Joe Kennedy was stumping for Talley Sergent, who is challenging Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., for the 2nd District seat.
Kennedy is the grandson of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy and the great-nephew of President John F. Kennedy, who campaigned heavily in West Virginia in the 1960 Democratic presidential primary to win the state.
“This visit today is personal. I have heard for as long as I have been alive about those races in the early ’60s and mid-’60s and late ’60s with my family. They are the stuff of legend,” he said. “Yes, about the campaign stops and what transpired there, but more than anything, about the people of West Virginia and about what President Kennedy did in that primary, in that election, and what other family members tried to do, which is try to go into communities across the country and listen and try to understand what is going on.”
Sergent and Kennedy visited The Smokehouse restaurant on Charleston’s West Side before heading to the South Charleston Fire Station for a rally. It was there both criticized Mooney and Republicans for voting in favor of repealing “Obamacare.”
“They started talking about pre-existing conditions a week before the election,” Sergent said. “I think that tells you that in West Virginia, we can sniff out a fake about as fast as we can shoot one. People have got this figured out, and they’re not going to listen to politicians that come in here in the last second and try to rewrite history.”
Kennedy said politicians cannot ignore their own voting record.
“It’s ultimately up to the people of West Virginia to say, ‘Are we going to make sure that we have a champion to make sure every single person gets access to health care?'” he asked. “Or are you going to vote for somebody that realizes after that vote is already cast, that actually it’s important and is going to lie about it?”
Mooney is seeking his third term in the House of Representatives. Political analysis groups see the race as likely to go in Mooney’s favor.
When Sergent and Kennedy visited The Smokehouse, owners Mike and Patty Smithers greeted them at the front counter. Mike Smithers, who said he already voted for Sergent, remembered when the congressman’s great uncle and grandfather were killed in the 1960s.
“She is really trying hard,” Mike Smithers said of Sergent. “I wish her the best. It’s going to be a tough struggle, but hopefully she will come out on top.”
Patty Smithers presented Kennedy with a shirt branding the eatery’s name.
“He is a very down-to-earth person. When he walked in this Smokehouse, he came right up to me and talked to me like we were friends. Like he knew me,” she said. “We love Talley. She’s been working very hard. Very, very hard.”
Kennedy also stopped in Huntington to join Ojeda on the campaign trail.
Saturday is the final day of this year’s early voting period. Election Day is Tuesday.