×

Parsi listens to residents’ concerns in Mary B’s stop

Ace Parsi, the Democratic candidate for the West Virginia District 2 seat in the US House of Representatives, talks to Parkersburg resident Pat Martin Monday at Mary B's diner in south Parkersburg. Parsi was in the area talking to residents about their concerns. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG – A candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives has been in Parkersburg for the past couple of days talking to people about the issues that concern them most, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum.

Ace Parsi, of Morgantown, was at Mary B’s Diner in south Parkersburg talking to diners about what concerns they had. Parsi, the Democratic candidate, is running for the West Virginia District 2 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives held by Republican incumbent Riley Moore.

As Parsi went around Mary B’s, he introduced himself and said it didn’t matter if they were Democrat, Republican or independent. He wanted to talk with them about the issues and concerns that mattered to them, as he felt many elected leaders on the federal level have lost that personal connection with the people they are suppose to be representing.

If elected, he said he wanted to represent all West Virginians, those who voted for him and those who did not.

“I believe people really deserve representation,” he said. “I would like people to vote for me in November, but that is not the most important thing. If I win, I want to represent them whether they vote for me or not.”

He has been asking people what they think would make their lives better.

Parsi thinks many people on all sides of the political spectrum have lost faith in government because people feel it no longer really considers individuals and their needs, and that it now falls outside their ability to truly influence.

“Part of it is caring about what their experiences are,” he said.

In talking with people, Parsi said that many of the “cultural” issues that seem to dominate social media do not come up. People have been concerned about high gas prices and how that is raising the prices of groceries. The state of public schools is another issue people talk to him about as well as the conditions of local infrastructure. Many people have told him that their healthcare costs have doubled.

Over the weekend, he was at a local car show, and the conversations were regarding potholes along local roadways and even when they are filled it is like “a band aid” and it breaks down a short time later. He has visited some farmers’ markets and the Cooper Cabin on Sunday at Parkersburg City Park as part of an America 250 event.

“People talk to me about wanting basic representation,” Parsi said. “Most of the people I end up talking to are Republicans.

“They talk to me because no one ask them what it is that they would actually want. Many feel there is a system that is rigged against them. Their expectations aren’t the stars and the moon, but basic representation.”

He described the people he has met here as “decent, smart, kind.” He felt that if the people truly got their needs met, West Virginia wouldn’t be strictly a Democratic or a Republican state.

With mines and factories that have been closed over the years, many people have been promised to be retrained for new jobs that would be coming to the state at some point, but that never happened.

“The people did their part, but the government did not do their part for them,” Parsi said.

He said it is not enough for companies to come in, take out the state’s natural resources, which benefits a handful of people and then the financial benefits leave the state with them. There is a need to invest in communities and their people across the state, he added.

There is a fear as AI becomes more prevalent that more people are going to lose their jobs.

“If those government policies end up making someone richer by having those things come in here, there should also be an investment in the community and the community chooses, through a vote, about how to spend that money whether on job training, investment in infrastructure (roads, broadband and more) or something else.

“People need to know that their elected officials like them and feel their views matter,” Parsi said.

He wants to see teacher pay increase to bring in more qualified teachers as well as increase pay for other professions that don’t pay as much as some of the surrounding states and regions.

With proposed data centers being slated for certain areas, people are feeling like their concerns are not being heard, he said, adding those concerns have crossed party lines.

“People feel like something is happening and they are not even in the room where it happens,” Parsi said. “If democracy is to survive we have to have people show that they care and they are going to fight for them.”

As the federal government spends billions on a war in the Middle East, there are people in West Virginia who still don’t have clean drinking water; and Parsi feels for many people, politics has become something like a spectator sport.

“We need to make our government something that our people can count on,” Parsi said.

Parsi talks on his webpage about immigrating to this country from Iran when he was 8 years old and having to learn English. He was born into an authoritarian regime, but he is an immigrant who believes in the American dream and wants to protect it.

“Once we immigrated, my family grew up in poverty,” he said on his website.

Through school, with the help of ESL instructors in public schools, he learned English and excelled. With the help of coaches and others he became a high school state weightlifting record holder. He talks about assistance he and his family received that helped him achieve his goals.

“I came to see the ideal American dream – overcoming and beating the odds – not as something we do alone, but as something we do together with people, neighbors, and public programs that make us all better,” he said on his website. “I fled an authoritarian regime to find a home in America — a journey that taught me the true value of freedom and democracy.”

After Parkersburg, Parsi is planning to travel north to Wheeling with a stop at the dams near Cameron, W.Va.

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com.

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today