Kesling switches parties ahead of May primary election
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ELKINS -- Randolph County Commissioner David Kesling was elected as a Democrat in 2018. Now seeking re-election in the May 14 primary, Kesling has switched his party affiliation to Republican.
"I had been thinking about changing for a long time, and I could see the way the national party has been moving more toward the extreme left over the past year," Kesling told The Inter-Mountain Tuesday. "I was approached by several well-known Republicans in the county and changing was something I felt I had to do. So back in October I decided to make the change."
Kesling said that, although he has changed his party affiliation, he will continue serving Randolph County as a commissioner in the same way he always has.
"People know me and the way I run the county will not change," he said. "I've lived in Randolph County almost all of my life and I will continue to do what I feel is in the best interest of all the residents of the county."
Kesling said he was originally a Republican before joining the Democratic party back in 2008.
"I was in Canada working for Walmart for almost five years, and when I moved back to West Virginia and built a house in Elkins, I switched to Democrat," Kesling said. "At that same time I joined the Democratic Executive Committee as well. I was on that committee until I resigned back in October."
Kesling's first elected position in Randolph County was with the Board of Education in 2006. He has served as a county commissioner since being sworn into the office in 2019.
"The way things are going throughout the country, I just felt like it was time to switch," Kesling said. "I will continue to run the county the right way and in the best interest of all the county's citizens. My political views are the views I was raised with in Randolph County, and I still believe in the values my grandmothers Mary Owens and Genevieve Kesling taught me growing up."
Carolyn Jackson, the chair of the Randolph County Republican Executive Committee, told The Inter-Mountain she is happy Kesling switched parties.
"David has a lot of conservative values and we are certainly glad he has changed to Republican," she said. "He was a Republican long before he was a Democrat and we are glad to have him. We know that he will do a great job."