HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The City of Huntington Mayor Steve Williams says he’s been unofficially announcing his run for governor in the 2024 election for quite some time now.
“The joke has been I am thinking about it, I am leaning towards it, leaning so far towards it that I’m about to fall over,” Williams said.
Williams came on MetroNews Talkline Tuesday after more officially announcing his run as the only Democratic candidate to enter the 2024 gubernatorial race at the UMWA’s annual Labor Day picnic in Racine Monday. He said to some, however, Monday’s announcement should have come as no surprise.
“Anybody who has had a conversation with me in the last month knew that already, it may have just been the ways that I’ve said it,” he went on.
Williams said he recalled making the same announcement back at a Juneteenth event in Huntington that he had every intention of running for the position, as well as traveling around the state letting citizens know for several months now. However, filing the pre-candidacy paperwork at the Secretary of State’s Office the first week of October will officially make it the real deal.
“You don’t open an enterprise and open the doors until you have everything in place and we don’t have everything in place yet, we’re getting there, we’re getting there pretty quickly,” said Williams.
Throughout Williams’s travels around the state he said one of the biggest concerns citizens have is the state’s economy and the future of its aging infrastructure.
Williams said while there have always been economic concerns since his time as mayor after taking office in 2013, he said the new twist is the concerns people have over where the funds are going to fix the infrastructure. He said West Virginia unfortunately has had a history of money not necessarily being sent to where it’s supposed to.
“Just think, there are areas in the state of West Virginia where they don’t have running water, they actually have to truck water into areas,” he said.
Williams said Huntington has been able to repair roads, bridges, sewer systems, and tear down dilapidated buildings more than the city has ever been able to before, and that’s because the city has created a track record in recent years allocating funds to where they are needed most.
“I see that this future is really bright if we truly take care of those things that need to be taken care of in the state,” said Williams.
He said in recent years Huntington has been able to pursue more revitalization efforts and create economic development opportunities than ever before.
Another effort Williams said he has made headway with during his time as mayor of Huntington is dealing with the ongoing opioid epidemic by hitting the problem head-on and collaborating with organizations around the community to implement better treatments, resources and ways of looking at the issue.
“No matter what we were doing from a police standpoint there were people that were suffering and that what we needed to be able to do is put infrastructure in place to create opportunities, to lift people up,” he said.
The only democrat, Williams enters the race for West Virginia’s next governor under a deeply red state, with republican candidates Moore Capito, Patrick Morrisey, Mac Warner and Chris Miller all vying for the position in 2024, as well.
He said he plans to counter this by simply making sure people get to know him and how he has the same intentions as any other candidate, which is improving the state we call home.
“What I’m finding as I’m traveling around the state, introducing myself to folks, and as they start hearing what we have been doing their eyes start to light up,” Williams said.
“If I’m given the opportunity to talk to folks and they don’t just tune me out because I have a ‘D’ after my name, one thing I’ve said to anybody able to listen, ‘I have run my entire life with a D after my name.”
Williams is unable to run for mayor of Huntington again due to reaching a limit on his term-length.