The two candidates for West Virginia’s 82nd House appeared before The Dominion Post editorial recently, in a ranging discussion that addressed abortion rights, failing infrastructure, alternative energy and hyper-partisanship among elected officials.
Bill Reger-Nash, a retired WVU public health physician and Democrat, previously served in the House in his native Wheeling in the 1980s.
He’s facing a challenge on the Republican side of the ballot from political newcomer David McCormick, who was raised in Logan and is the founder of Omega Commercial Interiors, a company with offices in Morgantown and Charleston.
Both sat down the newspaper editorial board in separate Zoom sessions which took on the above topics and more.
Here’s a quick capsule:
How willing would both be to vote across party lines?
Reger-Nash harkened back to his time in the house nearly four decades ago when the Mountain State trended at least 3-to-1 Democrat. He did side then with his Republican colleagues more than once, he said, if it was sound legislation.
“We really need to keep the people of West Virginia as our priority,” he said. “Not politics.”
As a businessman, McCormick said he’s used to solving problems efficiently, with no preconceived or built-in biases.
Right now, he said, he’s talking with the Division of Environmental Protection over issues of water levels at Cheat Lake – but more as a concerned resident of the area than a Republican.
“I’m gonna do what’s best for the people in my district. Period.”
What approach should the state take toward abortion rights and reproductive healthcare?
McCormick is “pro-life, with exceptions,” he said.
That includes cases of rape or incest resulting in pregnancy – or if the health of the mother is in danger otherwise.
In this instance, he said, he has to be pragmatic, regarding West Virginia’s prevailing politics on the issue.
“The law has been passed. It is what it is.”
Reger-Nash agreed, but on the other side of the ledger.
“I’m totally in support of a woman’s right to choose,” the physician said.
For him, that also includes access to the best pre-natal care possible.
“Right now, the landscape has been established,” he said, “and West Virginia is among the most restrictive states when it comes to women’s choices and women’s rights.”
What do you see in West Virginia’s energy future?
Reger-Nash is “a strong supporter” of renewable energy, he said – but not at the expense of coal miners who have done the heavy lifting in that arena for generations.
“Nothing in the foreseeable future in West Virginia is going to replace coal,” he said, while allowing that solar and wind are affordable and more friendly to the environment and do need to be brought along.
So do the people, as he said, who work in the state’s principal energy industry.
“Coal miners need to be paid well,” he said. “They need to need to be treated well, with benefits and a safe, working environment.”
McCormick, who grew up in the state’s southern coal fields, said aforementioned wind and solar sources can serve as additions in West Virginia’s energy grid portfolio.
“We’re an energy state,” he said. “A lot of people don’t like that. I do.”
Which means, he said, that coal is still king – sharing the court with other fossil-fuel production.
“We should be drilling for gas. We should be mining coal. Wind and solar should be ancillary.”
How would you fix the roads?
“Our roads are deplorable,” Reger-Nash said.
And in Charleston, he said, all roads don’t lead to Morgantown.
“I really think this area gets short-changed, in support for our infrastructure,” Reger-Nash said.
He wants support and communication between the two economic destinations in the Mountain State – which is basically blocked right now, he said.
The candidate likens it to swerving to avoid a pothole, and getting into a crash in the opposite lane, anyway.
McCormick is driving in the same direction as his opponent on the issue.
“Our roads in north-central West Virginia are terrible,” he said.
So are the metaphorical potholes in the communication network between Morgantown and the state Division of Highways in Charleston.
“There’s still a lot of roads that need paved,” he said.
“It’s gonna take a concerted effort and a unified message from our area to get things done.”
In closing …
Reger-Nash wants new recreational tourism coming in, for both dollars and health benefits.
“We have an extraordinary community,” he said.
“We have excellent public education and excellent health care,” the candidate continued.
“We need to make sure these resources stay available for everybody.”
McCormick said he will use his management skills and business acumen to build up everyone in the Mountain State.
“I’m a businessman to the core,” he continued. “That’s my No. 1 priority, in life and politics and everything else.”
Which means working hard as a lawmaker, he said.
“I’m used to solving problems every day that affect other people’s lives other than me. And essentially, isn’t that what the legislature does?”
