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ELKINS -- State Senator Robert Karnes, R-11th District, asked Randolph County voters to choose only "true conservative Republicans" in upcoming elections.
"We've got a lot of great stuff happening in West Virginia, but we've reached a point where, in a weird sort of a way, it's cool to be a Republican now. And that's a threat to what we're doing," Karnes said during the Randolph County Republican Executive Committee's Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday.
"The reason why is because now everybody wants to be a Republican, or at least act like a Republican. They jump in these races, and in the past they've been Biden supporters, Hilary supporters, Al Gore supporters, but suddenly now they're great Republicans.
"We've got to be way more discerning about making sure that we're choosing true conservative Republicans to continue the fight that has been fought by many people in this room for 50, 60, 70 years," Karnes said.
He pointed out that the Republican Party's current dominance in West Virginia politics has been a long time coming, and that many local people played a part in building the current landscape.
"In 2017 I chaired the Tax Reform Committee," Karnes said, noting tax changes were passed earlier this year. "That plan is almost exactly what we put together then. We've been working on that and fighting for that since 2017. We finally got it this year.
"We've reached a point now where we have great people in the Republican Party now who are actually opposing each other in their next election. For example, Mac Warner and Patrick Morrisey, who are running head to head against each other for governor, along with Moore Capito. What a change in West Virginia in the last few years.
"There are people in this room that have supported every single Republican presidential candidate, from Trump to George W. to George H.W., Bob Dole, even clear back to Richard Nixon. They've supported Arch Moore for governor, and they've supported every Republican candidate down the line. There's been a lot of work that's gone into transforming West Virginia into what we currently have, which is a great opportunity."
Karnes warned that a "swamp" is forming in the state's Capitol, however, and he took aim at Senate President Craig Blair, R-15th District, a frequent target of Karnes' criticism.
"We have a real problem right now with a swamp being built in Charleston, just like the swamp you see in D.C.," he said. "We have one particular person who is frankly selling access to the West Virginia State Senate to the highest bidder. We're seeing that swamp being built right now in West Virginia.
"HB2007, many of you have probably heard about that bill. That's where we outlawed transgender surgery for minors. But when that bill was sent over from the house, it outlawed transgender surgery, but it also outlawed chemical castration, et cetera.
"When it came over to the Senate, what we saw was the Senate president took $20,000 in campaign contributions from the very people who do this to our children in West Virginia. And then he got behind an amendment that stripped all those drugs (from the bill), so now you can still do that in West Virginia to kids, as long as you don't use a scalpel to do it. Because he's for sale. He's selling access to our Senate. And I've been fighting him tooth and nail on this.
"And I just want to let you know, I'm going to spend the next four years fighting him on this," Karnes said. "I'm going to spend the next four years fighting for the conservative values that we've all been fighting for."