CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the Primary Election in West Virginia is just five days away, the race for mayor of West Virginia’s capital city features the incumbent and two candidates who have held a combined zero days in political office at any level.
Life-long Charleston resident and advocate Martec Washington is challenging current Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin in the Democratic primary while the retired small business owner and military lieutenant colonel Lance Wolfe is running unopposed on the Republican side.
Goodwin, who announced her re-election bid in January, was elected in November 2018 and was sworn-in as Charleston’s first female mayor January 2019.
The majority of her term has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic which started March 2020. Goodwin told MetroNews that her administration had ‘been rolling’ before the pandemic shut down the city, state and world.
“After the first year, we spent a lot of time re-organizing and re-energizing all of our divisions, all of our departments. Then we had to completely change our focus and shift to the health and safety of our citizens. That was our number one job. Period. End of paragraph,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin touted the city’s response to the pandemic, becoming the first city in West Virginia to file for an emergency declaration because of the virus. Charleston and Kanawha County were featured as a model for municipalities across the country, as the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department vaccination and testing efforts were featured in several national media outlet stories.
Goodwin said her administration has faced the two-year challenge of the pandemic as well as she believed they could.
“When people said to me during the pandemic, ‘you didn’t ask for this,’ I said yes I did. I asked for whatever the challenges put in front of me and Charleston. Little did I know it would be a global pandemic but we took that challenge. We made sure we were doing every single thing that we knew to do and do it better,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin added that a second term would allow her administration opportunities for ‘unfinished business,’ especially as COVID-19 cases continue to fall to pandemic lows. She said those ongoing projects would be continuing to use the Charleston Land Reuse Agency to rehabilitate and tear down homes, fill the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center with continuous events, double the road paving budget, distribute the American Rescue Plan funding for various projects, and build a public safety building.
During her announcement for re-election, Goodwin noted upgrades to city parks, city parking garages and 17 new permanent public art installations in her first term. She also noted how her administration has built up the Rainy Day fund from $4 million to $18 million.
“There are so many great opportunities that we still have in front of us. There are so many great projects we have a front-burner that we want to see come to fruition,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin’s opponent in the primary, Washington, is a familiar face around the city, particularly on the West Side as he grew up there and attends many community events. He said his campaign is about branching out into the numerous neighborhoods in Charleston to meet citizens.
Washington told MetroNews his advocacy for Charleston began as a kid when he helped bring a playground to the West Side through the Boys and Girls Club. It continued into his 30s as he said he helped bring a West Virginia Health Right clinic and wellness center to the West Side this year after conversations with Angie Settle, the CEO of the health organization.
He has attended dozens of council meetings but has never held a seat or any political position in his life. Washington said he doesn’t believe his lack of experience in politics matters because ‘I’ve been serving Charleston my whole life.’
“Why wouldn’t you want me to be mayor because I’m already out here doing it and showing it’s coming from the heart,” Washington said. “Why wouldn’t you want a mayor coming from the heart to take care of your city? I tell people I am up for any challenge that comes my way because I am still here in Charleston.”
Focusing on the city’s youth is a priority for Washington. He said he wants to make sure there are enough job opportunities to keep them off the streets.
Washington said his goals as mayor include fully funding the police department, paying police a better wage, and also holding the police accountable for their actions.
“I want the police department to be proactive and not reactive. I want them out in our community trying to prevent things from happening. I also want the police department to take care of public safety,” he said.
On his campaign’s website, additional goals for a Washington administration include creating better jobs, improving city worker wages, expanding economic opportunity, making the city safer, cleaner, and healthier, reopening the city’s trash bag program, and creating more entertainment for children and adults.
“I just want to lead Charleston into the 21st century. I want the place we love and call home to be everything we want it to be,” Washington told MetroNews.
Running unopposed on the Republican side of the ballot is another ‘rookie’ politician in Wolfe. Wolfe is a retired small business owner and military lieutenant colonel who believes his life experiences will transition well into a mayor’s office.
After high school, Wolfe joined the US Navy with service in the Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam in 1971-72. After his Naval Service Wolfe attended Virginia Tech obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Upon graduation in 1977 from Virginia Tech, Wolfe returned to Charleston where he primarily worked in the private sector until 1984, when he accepted a full-time position with West Virginia Air National Guard.
After his military retirement following more than two decades of service, Wolfe joined his father’s consulting engineering firm and retired in 2016.
Wolfe originally filed to run for a city council seat in the ward where he lives but said he wanted to challenge the current mayoral administration because no one was on the GOP ticket.
He said there are ‘too many issues’ facing the capital city.
“We’ve got some real issues with public safety, public health and economic development, and bringing businesses back to Charleston. But everything revolves around cleaning up the city and doing something about our homeless problem,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said his campaign anchor will be the homeless issues facing the city. He said he would like to separate the ‘criminal vagrants around town from those citizens that need support.’ He said the current administration is not tough enough in addressing the situation.
He added the city must first address the homeless issues because it spurns economic development. Wolfe said businesses will not want to move into Charleston until ‘it’s cleaned up.’
“I’m sick and tired of the panhandlers and people standing at the base of the bridges begging for money, and having to walk on the street to get around tents on the sidewalks. I can’t believe we live in a society that tolerates this activity and I want to change it if I can,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe, who was born in 1951 and grew up on the East End, spent his childhood living on the hill above Laidley Field. He said he’s working on addressing the identity issue with his campaign and putting a face with the name.
Wolfe said the summer will be interesting for him but he’s ready to lead Charleston immediately.
“I don’t think we can go another four years like this. We have to make changes and it has to be a tough-love change,” Wolfe said.
Primary Election Day in West Virginia is May 10. Full coverage is at wvmetronews.com and will be broadcast on the MetroNews Radio Network beginning at 7:06 p.m.