Gaaserud

A Parkersburg man has filed for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in West Virginia.

Alex Gaaserud, 33, calls himself a true conservative who supports fiscal responsibility, energy independence and expansion in the U.S., deportations and ending asylum for immigrants and reducing taxes.

“West Virginia needs to send a generational change to Washington, D.C.,” Gaaserud, who ran for the House of Representatives in 2024, said.

He received 3,444 votes in Wood County in that race.

The filing period for the 2026 primary election ends at midnight Saturday, Jan. 30. As of Friday, nine people – four Democrats and five Republicans – have filed their papers with the secretary of state for the U.S. Senate, including incumbent Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of Charleston who is running for a third term.

“I don’t believe Sen. Capito is a real conservative,” Gaaserud said.

Gaaserud is a graduate of Elkins High School where he started a young Republicans club in 2008. He graduated in 2015 from Davis and Elkins College with a degree in political science and was on the debate team.

He works in transportation logistics and his wife, Jasmine, 32, a native of Ravenswood, has a small photography business. Their sons are Xander, 4, and Harrison, 3.

The national debt at $39 trillion is among the main campaign issues, Gaaserud said. He wants to control wasteful spending by returning to the former method of funding government by individual spending bills rather than the massive omnibus appropriations now used in Congress.

“That ballooned the debt,” he said.

The primary election is on May 12 and the general is on Nov. 3.

Other candidates who have filed for Senate, in addition to Gaaserude and Capito, include Democrats Thornton Cooper from South Charleston, Rachel Fetty Anderson from Morgantown, Rio Phillips from Charleston and Zachary Shrewsbury from Princeton, and Republicans Janet McNulty from Martinsburg, David Purkey from Fairmont and Tom Willis from Martinsburg

Candidates filing for the House of Representatives were: Britta “Brit” Aguirre, District 1, Democrat, Logan; Vince George, District 1, Democrat, South Charleston; Larry Jackson, District 1, Republican, Hanover; Carol Miller, District 1, Republican, Huntington; Ace Parsi, District 2, Democrat, Morgantown; Steven Wendelin, District 2, Democrat, Lost City; and incumbent Riley Moore, District 2, Republican, Harpers Ferry.

Filing for the state Senate 3rd Senatorial District: Caci Petrehn, Democrat, Parkersburg; incumbent Mike Azinger, Republican, Vienna; and Bob Fehrenbacher, Republican, Vienna.

Filing for the House Of Delegates: incumbent Bill Anderson, District 10, Republican, Williamstown; Jeff S. Sandy, District 11, Republican, Vienna; Dennis V. Rempel, District 12, Democrat, Parkersburg; incumbent Vernon Criss, District 12, Republican, Parkersburg; Marley Umensetter, Democrat, District 13, Parkersburg; incumbent Scot Heckert, Republican, District 13, Parkersburg; Angie Adams, District 14, Republican, Elizabeth; Andy Daniel, District 14, Republican, Elizabeth.

Secretary of State Kris Warner this week advised people not to wait until the last minute to file candidacy papers because of the weather. A snow storm last weekend followed by prolonged single-digit temperatures have caused the closure of roads, businesses and some in-person services at government agencies, he said.