WELCH, W.Va. — Democratic U.S. Senate nominee and Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott says he’s going on a statewide tour this summer to learn more about West Virginia’s needs.
Elliott plans to visit all 55 West Virginia counties by Labor Day. He kicked off “The Place Where We Belong Tour” by knocking on doors in Mingo County Friday before heading to McDowell County.
A town hall event will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the Jack Caffrey Arts and Cultural Center in Welch.
Happy #WestVirginiaDay to my fellow Mountaineers.
This year I’m celebrating by announcing our statewide summer campaign tour, The Place Where We Belong Tour.
Inspired by old fashioned door to door campaigning, I’ll be spending the next 11 weeks traveling around the state… pic.twitter.com/x65Kceln0Y
— Glenn Elliott For Senate (@ElliottForWV) June 20, 2024
The 11-week tour will include 13 town halls. Elliott said it’s an opportunity to talk people in their communities about the issues that matter most to them.
“It’s a chance for me to meet people in their neighborhoods, in their towns, in their communities and really learn about the issues that people are really talking about on the ground level,” Elliott said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Elliott said he wants to visit small towns in addition to West Virginia’s larger cities.
“Where I’ve been in McDowell County talking to folks, people really feel like they’ve been ignored for a long time. You have to go everywhere. You have to try to reach people. At the end of the day, what are the biggest issues facing people and how can we, as elected officials, actually respond to people and help them everywhere,” he said.
The concern in McDowell County is the major population decline, Elliott said. His goal is to provide hope for the future following the downturn in the coal industry.
“The population in this county has gone from 100,000 in the 1950s to I think 19,000. The number of delipidated properties, the broken dreams you see and walking through some downtowns and empty storefronts. We need to give people hope,” he said.
Elliott said there needs to be more investment in other forms of energy.
“I’m not running for U.S. Senate to destroy the coal industry. If anything, I want to protect every job we have, but we have to be looking outside the box. We can’t just convince people down here that the only thing that’s going to save this community is coal. We have to see more types of investment,” he said.
Elliott is running against Republican Gov. Jim Justice in the November election.