CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Thirteen months ago, Ben Salango was standing outside of Charleston’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center launching his campaign for governor.
Standing alongside his family and supporters, Salango painted himself as the opposite of Gov. Jim Justice, saying Justice did not act like he wanted the job and remained hampered by controversies involving his family’s businesses.
Salango — the Kanawha County commissioner and now the Democratic gubernatorial nominee — recalled that day while speaking Monday evening to supporters and fellow Democratic candidates outside of his campaign headquarters in Charleston’s East End neighborhood.
“It wasn’t dark, we weren’t wearing masks, but you all were there, and I made you a promise,” he said. “I made you a promise that I was taking on the richest man in West Virginia. I wasn’t going to outspend him, but I knew that I would outwork him. I look out in this crowd, and I see the people that have volunteered hundreds and hundreds of hours for me.”
Salango, like many candidates, spent Monday involved in final get-out-the-vote efforts, which included rallies reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve got 24 hours so that we’ll have a governor we can be proud of,” the Kanawha County Commissioner said. “We’ve got 24 hours to make sure that we’ve got somebody who wants the job and not just the title and the fancy benefits. We need somebody who is going to work night and day to move West Virginia forward.”
The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office reported Monday more than 389,000 West Virginians have already voted; around 136,000 people voted by absentee ballot, while more than 253,000 voters participated in early voting. According to the office, the state has more than 1.2 million registered voters, placing voter turnout so far around 30.7%.
The Secretary of State’s Office allowed people to cite the pandemic as an excuse to vote by mail in the general election, a change from the June primary election when the office sent absentee ballot request forms to every registered voter.
Sam Petsonk, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, said this election will be historic for West Virginia and the country.
“Whatever work is left to do between now and tomorrow evening, I hope you’ll be out there doing it,” he said.
Petsonk spent Monday campaigning in Wayne, Cabell, Jackson, Putnam and Kanawha counties.
“I will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow,” he noted. “We’re going to start off in Montgomery and work our way down in the Valley.”
Former Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who is aiming to defeat incumbent Mac Warner, urged people to be energized until polls close Tuesday.
“We’ve got enough black powder left in these races that we can push all the way through until 7:30 tomorrow night,” she said.
Two miles away from Salango campaign headquarters, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., spoke alongside Republican candidates at her campaign’s office in Charleston’s South Hills district.
“I’ve watched my dad run for years and years, and I thought, ‘Oh, that looks easy,'” she said, referencing former Gov. Arch Moore.
“It’s not easy to do,” she added laughing.
Capito is seeking a second term in the Senate and is the favorite in the race against Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin.
“A lot is at stake this election,” Capito said. “We have pushed so hard. In all of the counties, the one thing that I have been so impressed with is our county Republicans have gotten out and registered new Republicans and changed Democrats to Republicans.”
While Democrats still hold an edge regarding registered voters, the state Republican Party has closed the gap; a 188,700 voter advantage ahead of the 2016 primary election has shrunk to 12,000 voters.
“I think that’s a real tribute to our party, our platforms and the way that we want to see not just our country succeed, but our state succeed as well,” Capito said.
State legislative candidates who spoke at the Capito office included Delegate Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, who is in the midst of a state Senate race against Delegate Andrew Robinson, D-Kanawha.
“It’s been the toughest damn thing I’ve ever been through,” Nelson said. “But it all comes together with a team, and I can’t thank everybody enough. … That’s how we win. It’s coming together as a group.”
Candidates additionally focused their efforts on online outreach; Swearengin and 2nd Congressional District candidate Cathy Kunkel spent Monday evening participating in a virtual rally with other progressive candidates. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hosted the event on the live-streaming website Twitch.
“There’s been a lot of talk in this campaign about bringing people together, and in my mind, we do it by continuing to fight unapologetically for working people in this country for the basic things we all need and deserve,” Kunkel said. “For health care, for a living wage, for a stable climate, for freedom from fear of police violence.”
Sanders, who ran for president in 2016 and this year, urged viewers to pay attention to the Mountain State.
“You’re going to see things happening in West Virginia similar to what you’re seeing in Texas,” he said. “This is a working-class state that does not get the representation that it deserves.”
President Donald Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and delegates from both campaigns spent Monday holding events in multiple battleground states. Trump won West Virginia in the 2016 presidential election and is expected to carry the state this year.