CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Activist Paula Jean Swearengin is running for U.S. Senate again.
More than a year after attempting to win the Democratic Party’s nomination in the 2018 Senate race, she is now trying to unseat Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.
Swearengin is also the only Democrat currently in the contest, which is anticipated to go Capito’s way.
Multiple Democrats have launched their campaigns for governor, including activist Stephen Smith, Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango and Boone County Senator Ron Stollings. Former Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher and former Delegate Mike Folk are challenging Gov. Jim Justice for the Republican nomination.
Yet in the U.S. Senate race, no one besides Swearengin has approached the party about running, which West Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore confirmed.
“I think there is still some time for someone out there with some money or the ability to raise some money. They might jump into the race,” she told MetroNews. “I tell everybody all the time I’ve got the utmost respect for anyone willing to put their name on the ballot and run for office, no matter what it is.”
In an interview, Swearengin said being the lone Democrat does not concern her.
“It really doesn’t scare me,” she said. “I think it’s very beneficial for us, and if they send someone our way, we’re just going to continue to fight like we do.”
Election analysts forecast a Republican win in next year’s contest; Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rates the race as “safe Republican,” and Inside Elections predicts the race as “solid Republican.”
J. Miles Coleman, the associate editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball, said West Virginia Democrats face obstacles in making the Senate race competitive.
“(President Donald) Trump definitely looms large. He’s going to be carrying the state pretty easily,” he said. “I feel like the state can support a Republican who is further to Capito’s right, but she’ll latch on to some issues like getting health care for some of the retired coal miners. Issues like that is where she can appeal to some of the voters there who support Democrats at the federal level.”
Trump won West Virginia in the 2016 Republican primary and carried the state in the general election with 68.5% of the vote. Statistics from Morning Consult show while Trump’s approval rating has declined 18 points since he took office, 58% of registered West Virginia voters approve of his job performance.
Morning Consult also notes Capito has a 47% approval rating compared to 33% disapproval.
Biafore discussed with MetroNews the difficulties in recruiting candidates for congressional seats, which involves extensive fundraising and networking.
“It’s just a different landscape now. You go to somebody and ask them to put their name on a ballot for Congress or U.S. Senate and the party has all these tools they can offer you,” she said. “But we don’t have any money, the Republicans are going to tell lies about you and not even your mother is going to recognize you at the end of the campaign. It’s not that appetizing or appealing.”
Yet six Democrats have launched gubernatorial campaigns.
“I think people aren’t satisfied with what’s going on at the state level, and they’re much closer to local and statewide politics than they are national,” Biafore said. “They just aren’t getting their needs met with this governor.”
Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates the gubernatorial race as “likely Republican.”
Coleman said voters nationwide are more willing to split-ticket vote in local and statewide races.
“(Justice’s) approval has always been iffy at best, whereas Capito has always had decently high approval,” he said. “Long-term, the partisanship will drift toward how it goes in the presidential election. For the time being, there is a decent amount of crossover.”
Swearengin said she started thinking about challenging Capito after losing in May 2018 but made the decision after learning she would be a grandmother.
“I had to worry about the same problems with my grandchild coming that I had to deal with my children,” she said. “I just couldn’t turn my back.”
Swearengin, who grew up in Wyoming County, said West Virginia is facing the same issues she saw as a child.
“When I came back, I was astounded to learn that people were still begging for clean water,” she said about moving back in 2001.
Swearengin was an activist against mountaintop removal before running for office last year; Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., beat Swearengin in the Democratic primary with 69.9% of voters.
“We may have not won, but we have definitely changed the conversation across the country. We’re holding our incumbents accountable,” she said. “We’re changing the narrative and creating a movement across the state, country and internationally. It’s been really good.”
Swearengin’s platform is more left than Democrats like Manchin; she supports Medicare for All and legalizing marijuana. She endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign in 2016 and has again this election cycle. During the 2018 midterm elections, Brand New Congress — created by former Sanders’ volunteers and staff — backed Swearengin. The organization has also endorsed this campaign.
“She’s got a great platform. She’s got a lot of great ideas,” Biafore said of Swearengin’s 2018 effort.
“I just think she jumped — and I told her this — too fast and a little bit too far. Maybe if people got to know her more and understand what she stood for, it might have been a little easier for her and she might have done a little bit better. You got to keep trying, and you got to stay out there. If they know you and they like you, they’ll vote for you.”
Swearengin was also featured in the Netflix documentary “Knock Down the House.” The film focused on four candidates, all women, who ran with support from Brand New Congress and similarly-minded Justice Democrats. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was the only person in the film who won their respective race.
“Bernie Sanders kind of fueled the movement of ordinary people running for office,” she said. “I think we all sort of put incumbents on a pedestal and we didn’t think we were qualified to run for office. But then I thought if Donald Trump can run and win, why can’t an ordinary West Virginian and a coal miner’s daughter?”
Sanders beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in West Virginia’s Democratic primary in 2016, but Coleman argued more voters opposed Clinton than supported Sanders.
“It was largely a protest vote against Hillary. He was really their only non-Hillary option,” he said. “I think if he made it to the general election, he would not have done as well — maybe even done worse — against Trump than Hillary did.”
Coleman said embracing progressive politics is not how Democrats win in West Virginia.
“I’m sure you can remember last year’s 3rd Congressional District run with (former state Sen.) Richard Ojeda,” he said. “He did run as a little more progressive and said on the campaign trail he voted for Trump but thought Bernie Sanders would have been a great president. He took positions that were more left than a blue dog Democrat like Manchin, and he lost the 3rd District by 13 points.”
Capito’s chances at winning a second term in the Senate are boosted by name recognition as well as her campaign’s resources; Capito, the daughter of late Gov. Arch Moore, served in the House of Delegates before joining Congress in 2001. According to the Federal Elections Commission, her campaign has around $2.4 million in cash on hand.
“As an incumbent, it’s going to be pretty hard to beat her,” Coleman said.
Allen Whitt, the president of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia, announced his campaign for the Republican nomination last month, but Coleman said Capito should defeat him in the primary.
“I wouldn’t expect that to get too much traction,” he said of the Whitt campaign.
Biafore is remaining optimistic about the Democratic Party’s chances. She recognizes the party faces multiple hurdles, but said the actions of Swearengin and possible other candidates will determine the outcome.
“If you’re willing to come up with a plan and you’re willing to go out to the people and tell them you can do a good job for the people, then absolutely. I don’t rule anybody out,” she said.
Swearengin said while her campaign needs money to operate, volunteers play a crucial role. She touted 2,000 volunteers who have already registered to help.
“You need money, but there is no reason why you need big money in politics. There’s no reason why Shelley Moore Capito needs $2 million in campaign donations. You can run a vital campaign without that kind of money, and you do it by mobilizing and organizing,” she said. “I’ve been an organizer for years, and we have ordinary West Virginians working in our campaign and they’ve been organizing for years. And that’s how you win.”