Submitted photo Ben Salango poses for a photo near the railroad bridge in Elkins during a recent campaign stop. Salango is challenging Jim Justice for governor.

Submitted photo
Ben Salango poses for a photo near the railroad bridge in Elkins during a recent campaign stop. Salango is challenging Jim Justice for governor.

ELKINS — In the last days of the campaign for governor, Ben Salango is still crisscrossing West Virginia, meeting voters and talking about the future of the Mountain State.

“We’re spreading the message all over the state,” Salango told The Inter-Mountain during a phone interview. “We need a governor who is energetic, who has new ideas, who’s not running the same playbook that they’ve been running since the 1950s.”

Salango, the Democratic nominee for governor in the Nov. 3 general election, says he offers a clear alternative to Republican incumbent Jim Justice.

“(Justice) has taken a ‘one size fits all’ approach to state government, and it doesn’t work that way,” Salango said. “We need to make sure that we are focusing on each region of the state, and the governor needs to spend time in each region of the state.”

Salango serves as a Kanawha County Commissioner and is an attorney.

“For the last 12 months I’ve worked hard to go across the state and talk to voters, talk to elected officials, and hear their concerns and develop plans to help with those problems,” he said.

“I have a tremendous group of volunteers who are helping me all over the state. We’re running a great campaign. People are energized by this campaign. They want something new, they want a governor who actually shows up for work.”

Salango noted some have claimed Justice has a political advantage by holding his three press conferences per week regarding COVID-19 concerns, but Salango doesn’t see it that way.

“He has dropped 25 points in popularity since the primary, and that’s because people see that he is putting politics ahead of public health,” Salango said. “He’s trying to game the system, he’s changing metrics, he’s trying to get a result. People are very concerned about this. They want the truth.”

“I’m not a career politician, but I have governmental experience and business experience,” he said. “I’m not well-known throughout the state, so I’m getting out to all the places that I can and meeting people in a safe and responsible way.

“We’ve got to take our state back. We need to move West Virginia forward. We’re only going to do that if we replace our governor.”

Salango stressed that if elected he will live in the Governor’s Mansion and “come to work every day.”

“Jim Justice inherited a fortune. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I had to work for every single thing that I have,” Salango said.

“Jim Justice has been handed everything he has. And it really shows. In his first three years as governor, he hardly ever showed up for work. It’s been well-documented. People want a governor who’s going to put in the hours.”