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The calendar is moving forward for our general election in November.
According to the West Virginia Secretary of State's website, this past Thursday (Aug. 1) was the deadline for those with unaffiliated candidates (those with no party organization) to file their paperwork and pay their fee in order to be placed on the ballot.
For President, West Virginia currently has three candidates listed: Republican Donald Trump, Mountain Party candidate Jill Stein, and Libertarian Chase Oliver. I'm assuming that will be updated once the Democratic National Convention is held later this month.
For U.S. Senate, there is a contest between Democrat Glenn Elliott, Republican Jim Justice and Libertarian David Moran. This one will be interesting, given some of the news in the last week, as well as not really hearing much about Moran. How will his candidacy affted the other two?
It's more of a traditional face-off for the U.S. House, with Republican Riley Moore and Democrat Steven Wendelin on the ballot to replace Alex Mooney. Mooney, you may remember, opted to seek the U.S. Senate seat, losing to Justice in the primary. Both Moore and Wendelin have spent some time in our area this year, and I would look to see them again.
The governor's race also has four on the ballot. We know of Democrat Steve Williams and Republican Patrick Morrisey, but there also is Mountain Party candidate Chase Linko-Looper and Libertarian Erika Klie Kolenich. Kolenich is listed as being from Buckhannon, while Linko-Looper is from Saint Albans.
Most of the other statewide offices have the one or two candidates as determined by May's primary election.
In the local Legislative races, incumbent Republican Ryan Weld appears to face no opposition in November, and is pretty much guaranteed for a return to the state Senate.
On the House of Delegates side, Pat McGeehan remains unopposed for District 1, while incumbent Mark Zatezalo faces a challenge from Olivia Dowler in District 2. Both are residents of Weirton, and while Zatezalo is familiar to many of us through his political career and community involvement, this will be Dowler's first time in the "professional" political arena.
In District 3, incumbent Jimmy Willis is facing a challenge from Wheeling resident David Cantrell. This will be Willis' second term, if elected. I don't know much about Cantrell, except it appears he is an electrician originally from Kentucky.
On the county level locally, most of the races have basically been determined through this year's primary.
Hancock County has one contested race on the ballot, with Sheriff Scott Gittings being challenged by Dezso Polgar. Beyond that, County Assessor Joe Alongi, County Prosecuting Attorney Steven Dragisich and County Commission candidate Tommy Ogden all are unopposed.
In Brooke County, incumbent Commissioner A.J. Thomas is being challenged by Darin Pizer, while current Sheriff Richard Beatty is facing former Sheriff Richard Ferguson. Assessor Thomas Oughton is unopposed, as is Prosecuting Attorney candidate Allison Cowden. Cowden had been set for a challenge from Robert Catlett, but he withdrew from the race.
So, unless the Secretary of State's Office just hasn't updated its roster since Thursday (which is possible as I'm only looking at it Friday morning), this appears to be most of the choices for our local voters in November.
There is still the option of submitting to be a write-in candidate, which has a deadline of Sept. 17.
I'll need to get some updated information for Weirton's municipal election, which also will be held on Nov. 5.
I've heard there have been one or two candidates who have withdrawn from their respective races, so there will be a need to get an updated candidate list and see about contact information. Several of those who stepped forward are running their first political campaign, so it will be important to hep introduce them to the community.
Three months will take place faster than we think.
(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @ChowellWDT)