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PARKERSBURG - The race for the West Virginia Senate District 3 is between Republican incumbent Mike Azinger and Democratic challenger Caci Petrehn.
Azinger, 61, of Vienna is a local businessman who runs his family’s storage rental business. He previously served a term and a half in the House of Delegates and then was appointed to replace former Senator David Nohe when he retired and has served since. Azinger was elected in 2016 to finish out an unexpired term and elected 2018 and 2022 to full four-year terms.
Azinger said he is excited to get behind the governor's efforts to eliminate the state-income tax.
"We are about a third of the way there," he said. "With all of the other states that have no income tax, they are the states that have population growth, low unemployment and high GDPs."
He wants to work on the state's Child Protective Services and issues with the foster care system. He is educating himself on the issues and will be working with other senators on it. He wants to support legislation that will make West Virginia more business friendly with less regulation and less taxes. He wants to continue supporting vaccine freedom which is important to him.
"I am pushing a bill to put the Ten Commandments in the classroom," he said. "I will be working hard on that also."
In talking to people around the area, he said people are concerned about the economy, gas prices and inflation. Azinger feels that compared to past presidents, the prices have not reached their peak.
"Inflation and gas prices will come back down," he said. "President Trump has a great economy. Manufacturing is the best it has been in 20 years, retail sales are up six percent, the GDP is high.
"Inflation a little bit high, but it is not awful. Unemployment rates are down. There is a lot of great news from the economy; manufacturing and transportation are the best they have been in 20 years. Trump is adding jobs and handling what needs to be handling with Iran and we need to stand behind him."
He feels that people need to get out and vote Republican. He feels the Republican Party is the party of freedom, the party of population growth, economic growth and the party of free markets.
"We have a serious existential threat that has been rising faster and faster from the Socialist/Marxist wing of the Democrat Party," Azinger said. "It is very important folks get out and vote Republican."
Petrehn, 37, of Parkersburg who works as a engagement coordinator with a company that works with at-risk youth, said she is from this area while her husband is from California. When they started building a family they looked at different areas, but decided to come and settle in Parkersburg.
"Once we started having our children, I started looking around at the things that were happening in the state, I was thinking there were things that were not good," she said. "What kind of state are we creating for our kids for them to inherit one day."
She got involved in local and state politics.
"We hear all the time that someone needs to step up," she said. "I thought why that couldn't be me."
This is her first time running for public office. She had previously won an elected position on the West Virginia Democratic Party Executive Committee.
She has spent the last nine months talking with people around the district and her priorities are addressing the data center issue (HB 2014) and how local entities have no say about data centers being placed in their area.
"That would probably be my top priority," she said of wanting to repeal that bill.
Another priority is bringing back the ability of unions to be able to represent workers in the state.
"Unions are the cornerstone of West Virginia," she said. "We need to make sure workers are supported.
"A strong Union is a stronger middle class which is a stronger West Virginia."
She doesn't think they could immediately repeal Right To Work, but she wants to bring back the prevailing wage as a start.
In working with at-risk youth, she works to make sure kids don't have to go to facilities or psych units or juvenile detention. She thinks the state needs to invest more in preventative services to do something before the kids are in that situation.
"I think both sides of the aisle can agree that there are issues with the services that we have for children in this state," she said. "I want to see preventative plans expanded across the state to help families be able to support their children at home and be able to keep them in their communities."
She wants to support issues that allow families to thrive in West Virginia by investing in job development and infrastructure. In the present day, people should have access to clean water.
"If it is happening to them, it could happen to us," Petrehn said. "There are a lot of things that I think we can and should address.
"We need to bring some common sense back to the statehouse. We need working people making the decisions."
She also thinks many lawmakers don't understand how missing a day of work can make them short on missing a mortgage payment.
There is a lot of focus on social issues these days that cause a lot of arguments among people. She'd rather focus on things that directly affects people's lives.
"I want to make sure people are eating and have access to their basic needs," she said. "I want to make sure they can thrive here instead of just getting by."