By the end of this week, we will all travel forward to the future, to the year 2026, and we will have moved past the first quarter of the 21st century.

It wasn’t until last week putting together my roundup of top West Virginia statehouse stories that I stopped to think about us getting through the past 25 years. It seems like yesterday that I was part of the Class of 2000 preparing for all of the computers to crash.

I was born in 1982, so it’s weird to think that I have lived longer in the 21st century than I had in the 20th century. Yet, still no flying cars, still no implementation of cold fusion as a power source, and we still haven’t been back to the Moon, let alone colonizing Mars.

I’ll continue to dream big, but until those things come along, I’m willing to simply look at the year we have at hand as we transition into 2026.

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My job throughout the week is writing factual news stories about the actions of our state and federal elected officials. But my weekly opinion column is about providing analysis of the actions of those same elected officials. Sometimes that means I provide critical analysis. Some of them agree and some disagree, but I think most know I’m fair and that my intent is good.

I’m a news reporter, so my goal is being fair and unbiased. It’s a goal that is impossible to reach, as I am only human, but that is the goal I always strive for.

I say that to say that while my job is to be a fair and unbiased news reporter, I am also a lifelong West Virginian and a taxpayer. I want to see West Virginia’s worst metrics improve. I want to see our elected officials, regardless of political party, succeed in making those improvements.

A month ago, I participated in an event with several nonprofit groups, and we took part in an exercise where we were supposed to set goals for the future. We were asked about what kinds of headlines we would want to see about West Virginia 10 years from now.

My headline from the future was “West Virginia sees lowest poverty rate in 10 years.” It’s optimistic, but if the state were to see its lowest poverty rate in a decade, that means that more West Virginians are earning livable wages. That means there are more jobs, and therefore more businesses and industries are growing in the state. And that also means more people are paying taxes, which means more money for state and local government services, education, health, etc.

I could keep going, but getting more people out of poverty and into the middle class would be a wonderful thing with wide-ranging implications for the Mountain State. All the major social conservativism battles have already been fought and won. I know lawmakers of both political parties and Gov. Patrick Morrisey share some sort of the same goals with different ways to get there. But it is probably time for this goal to rise to the top of priorities.

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The first year of any governorship is spent trying to find where all the light switches are, figuring out the peculiarities of how the state departments and agencies work, and trying to put your own stamp on things. It is also about trying to navigate what your predecessor left behind for you to clean up.

No doubt, former Gov. Jim Justice left behind real messes as he left for his U.S. Senate seat in Washington, D.C. My news colleagues and I have written about many of these issues, especially with the state Department of Human Services. Much of the negative stories that have come out in 2025, whether about poor infrastructure or lower-than-expected job growth can be pinned on the Justice administration.

But Morrisey has figured out that it is a losing battle to raise these issues. Justice (and his dog) remains popular no matter what stories come out about his governorship or his personal business issues. And when there were attempts to pin issues on Justice (without naming him), Justice very quickly used the resources of the U.S. Senate to punch back.

In fact, most of the press releases that have come out of Justice’s Senate office in 2025 have been bragging about things he did as governor. I think I can count on no more than two hands the number of press releases his office has sent out for bills he has either introduced or co-sponsored.

But as of Jan. 1, Morrisey will not be able to say he is still trying to find the light switches. From 2026 until the end of his term in 2028, everything that happens within a state department and agency will be solely the responsibility of the Morrisey administration. The training wheels are off.

I think Morrisey understands this. I asked him specifically about his agenda going forward for the remainder of his term at a press conference last week.

“I’m not going to do any comparisons to the past, but we’re going to do things the right way,” Morrisey said. “We’re going to focus on the fundamentals. That’s what you’re seeing.”

We’ll see what Morrisey’s agenda is for 2026 when he presents his State of the State address on Jan. 14. But from here on out, we are truly in the Morrisey years.

(Adams is the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers. He can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)