CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Members of the West Virginia Republican Party joined forces Monday evening in Charleston for a Trump 47 Volunteer Engagement Rally ahead of the November General Election.
Tresa Howell
The rally saw West Virginia GOP Chairman Matt Herridge and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey speak on how to prepare for election season and how to better support and promote former President Donald Trump.
Tresa Howell, who is running for House of Delegates, District 52, says the rally is bringing together a unified body ready to vote.
“What you see is the GOP candidates, representatives, and everyone behind the scenes that are working to get everyone across the finish line,” Howell said Monday evening. “We are unified, and we are ready for November the 5th.”
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Morrisey says the event is showing the party’s energy.
Patrick Morrisey
“This is a great event,” Morrisey said. “There’s so much energy here in West Virginia.”
The rally was also put on to show the confidence among party members that their state would be red come November. Joshua Higginbotham says he and others are confident West Virginia will be a Republican state across the board.
“I think that most of the people here are assuming that there is going to be a Republican blowout in a few weeks,” Higginbotham said. “I think Republicans are going to win up and down the ballot and we can tell that the energy is really strong in this room tonight.”
While many in the room at Recovery Sports Grill in Charleston were confident in how election season would look, Morrisey says it’s going to take a full effort for his party up until the end.
“People are still working hard,” Morrisey said. “We have to knock on doors, we have to make calls, we have to not take anything for granted.”
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Another point made clear during the rally was the interaction with those in other states. Herridge and others spoke on members of the party needing to reach out to friends and family ahead of the election to convince them to get out and vote and vote for Trump.
Higginbotham says there are quite a few states up in the air that may decide the 2024 General Election.
“West Virginia is almost guaranteed to be a Republican state up and down the ballot, but there’s a lot of other states that are at play, probably as many as 10 states,” Higginbotham said. “You’ve got to look at Wisconsin, look at Florida, look at Pennsylvania, Michigan, and if you have friends or family there, encourage them to vote.”
Morrisey, who will be running for governor in November against Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, says he, too, is confident West Virginia will vote Republican, but he wants to hit other benchmarks besides just winning the election.
“Every vote does matter. First of all, I want West Virginia to be the biggest pro-Trump state in the nation, and we want to get a lot of people out to vote,” Morrisey said. “I know that it makes a difference because of the popular vote issue, and also, you want to go in with a mandate to govern.”
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While the rally was mostly focused on the presidential election to come, Higginbotham says getting out to vote for local positions should be one of the main reasons to exercise the right.
“Even if there’s a blowout statewide and you get Republicans at the top of the ticket that win everything here, honestly, your day-to-day life, it matters more who your county commissioner, your sheriff and your city council member is,” Higginbotham said.
Howell’s final message from the rally was for citizens to not wait any longer to register to vote.
“We have 21 days prior to the election to get registered to vote, so please don’t wait until the last minute,” Howell said.
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – West Virginia lawmakers continued working as the Saturday midnight deadline approaches.
Senate Action
The Senate passed 12 bills, including one requiring adult content websites to use age verification to block minors. Senators also passed a bill creating a Cold Case Task Force.
House Bill 49-90, targeting gift card crimes, and House Bill 54-37, the Vape Safety Act, also passed unanimously. All four bills now go to the House for concurrence.
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Delegates passed Alyssa’s Law, allowing teachers to wear mobile alert buttons that notify 9-1-1 and trigger a school lockdown in emergencies. The bill is named after a victim of the 2018 Parkland shooting.
Bill 4005, which clarifies jobs prohibited for workers under 16 — including bar work and logging — also passed. Both bills now head to Governor Patrick Morrisey’s desk.
Senate Bill 4 would require bystanders to stay at least 30 feet from first responders.
Senate Bill 75 would allow West Virginia law enforcement to cooperate with officers in bordering states. A bill from the Education Committee would allow teachers with at least 15 years of experience to become certified as school principals.
For more legislative coverage, go to our website at wdtv.com.
The West Virginia Mountaineers (10-3) welcome the Maryland Terrapins (10-5) to Kendrick Family Ballpark Tuesday afternoon the first encounter between the two programs since 2023 and the first meeting in Morgantown since 2018. The first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.
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The Mountaineers captured their fourth consecutive series of the season after taking two of the three games from Columbia over the weekend. West Virginia sophomore Matt Ineich and senior Brodie Kresser both blasted grand slams during the series. Ineich lifted WVU in game two with a walk-off grand slam in the 10th in game two, and Kresser ignited a 16-1 rout, capping a six-run second inning in the series finale.
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Gavin Kelly leads West Virginia at the plate with a .436 batting average with a Big 12 leading nine doubles. Ineich and senior Paul Schoenfeld has raked in a team-leading 16 RBI apiece, while senior Matthew Graveline has clubbed a team-high three home runs.
On the mound, West Virginia is expected to start sophomore David Hagen. The right-hander has made four appearances on the season, including one start. He last started in the home-opener against Ohio where he pitched two scoreless innings and recorded a strikeout to collect his first win of the season. He holds a 1.00 ERA with five strikeouts on the season.
After starting 3-4, Maryland is 7-1 in its last eight games. The Terrapins won two of three at UNC Wilmington in the season opening series, followed by a midweek win against Georgetown before getting swept at Louisiana. The Terps bounced back with a pair of midweek wins versus Delaware and swept a one-win Wagner team.
Junior Brayden Martin is batting a team-best .443 to go with four doubles and 12 RBI. Redshirt freshman Ryan Costello leads the Terps in home runs (9) and RBI (21) and is third in batting average at .328, while freshman Ty Kaunus has a team-high seven doubles and has .269 batting average.
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Maryland is scheduled to start freshman Nic Morlang. The right-hander has four appearances on the season, including four starts. He allowed five earned runs in his appearances, coinciding with his two starts, in six innings of work. In his last two appearances in relief, He’s allowed one earned run on five hits.
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West Virginia leads the all-time series 8-5, including a five-game winning streak over Maryland.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a series of parties in Morgantown over the weekend.
Morgantown police officers, West Virginia University Police and state police responded to reports of overcrowded parties, underage drinking, physical altercations and multiple injuries.
Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffie said several citations were issued for open containers and underage consumption.
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Two large parties were dispersed and six arrests were made without incident.
None of the reported injuries are believed to be serious or life-threatening.
The Morgantown Fire Department assisted in the operations.
