A businessman, an election denier and a nepo baby walk into a GOP gubernatorial debate

Last week, MetroNews hosted a roundtable discussion between three of the four Republican candidates for governor of West Virginia.

House Judiciary Chairman Del. Moore Capito, businessman Chris Miller and Secretary of State Mac Warner met for the discussion hosted by Hoppy Kercheval of MetroNews’ show “Talkline”

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey declined to participate and instead did an online interview with HD Media, the parent company of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, which Morrisey has falsely referred to as “fake news” for years.

There really aren’t significant differences between the men who participated, and they seemed to agree with each other on most things.

Capito comes from a long line of politicians, including his mother U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and his grandfather Arch Moore, the former governor of West Virginia who was convicted for corruption after pleading guilty to five felonies, including obstruction of justice, mail fraud, tax fraud and extortion.

Miller, who says he’s not like other candidates because he’s a businessman and isn’t part of the “good old boy network,” is the son of U.S. Rep. Carol Miller and grandson of former U.S. Rep. Samuel L. Devine, R-Ohio.

Warner, the state’s current secretary of state, has gone on the record saying that although West Virginia’s elections were secure, the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

This Republican roundtable had everything — false claims about drugs, lies about stolen elections and “a really, really neat guy named Jesus Christ.”

The big takeaways are:

Transparency

All three men agreed to do in-person press conferences with the ability for reporters to ask questions and follow-up if elected. We’ll remember that, fellas.

Donald Trump and the 2020 election

When Kercheval brought up Trump, his 91 felony charges in four criminal cases, that he was found to have sexually abused a woman and conducted his businesses fraudulently, all three men said they still support Trump.

Warner then went on to say that the 2020 election was stolen by the CIA, and the FBI covered it up. Capito said the election in West Virginia was secure, but wouldn’t answer when asked about the rest of the country. Miller then said the election was “possibly” stolen because of things like mail-in ballots. There is no evidence that the 2020 election was stolen.

Drug epidemic

Capito did set himself apart when asked about opioids — he said that under his administration, anyone caught “pushing fentanyl” would go to jail for life. Need I remind you that our jails are already understaffed and overcrowded?

I had some hope for Miller, who has experience with addiction and said he’s been sober from opiates since 2004. He said making something illegal only makes criminals rich, and the state needs to make sure that people have the resources they need to help fight addiction. However, he then went on to the Republican talking point that fentanyl gets to West Virginia through the Mexican border and that a border wall would stop that.

As our reporter Caity Coyne reported, this is false. More than 85% of people charged with fentanyl trafficking annually are U.S. citizens, according to the United State Sentencing Commission. And more than 90% of fentanyl seized at the Mexican border comes from legal points of entry, which Kercheval also pointed out, but Miller wouldn’t listen and said “We’re not tracking the border… so you can’t necessarily say that.”

LGBTQ rights

Kercheval referenced Miller’s 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference speech, and asked him if transgender people are “part of God’s perfect design.”

“Well, there’s this really, really neat guy named Jesus Chris that taught us to love everybody, so one of the things I don’t do is I don’t hate people,” Miller responded.

When Kercheval asked about LGBTQ rights, all three men talked about how they have gay friends and how they love everyone, but their answers don’t necessarily reflect that.

For some reason, they started debating gay marriage, which has been legal nationally since 2015.

Warner said that marriage should be between one man and one woman, but he supports civil unions, and the legislature can pass bills to give people in civil unions the same rights as a married couple. So, it would be the same thing, but he wants to call it a different name.

Warner wants to “protect the nuclear family,” which is a mother, father and their children. In West Virginia, nearly half of grandparents are raising their grandchildren, and that’s not because gay people are having children and dropping them on their parents.

The men then began talking about how they don’t support transgender girls playing on girls sports teams, but nothing about transgender boys playing on boys teams.

“We should be protecting women’s rights,” Miller said moments after saying he’s anti-abortion and supports the state’s near-total ban.

It’s still early in the 2024 election cycle, and there’s still plenty of time for the three to set themselves apart — from each other and even the party talking points to focus on how they’d really help West Virginia. They need to worry less about what the national party is talking about — like the border wall — and talk about what they can do to help West Virginians.

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com. Follow West Virginia Watch on Facebook and Twitter.