Mooney

ELKINS — Congressman Alex Mooney, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, stopped by The Inter-Mountain offices this week on a swing through North Central West Virginia.

Mooney filed to run for the Senate seat currently held by Joe Manchin on Monday, the first day of the filing period.

“With Joe Manchin retiring, all eyes will be on the Republican primary,” Mooney told The Inter-Mountain this week. “It’s pretty clear to everyone in West Virginia and throughout the whole country that, when Joe Manchin retired, it was highly unlikely that a Democrat would win this seat.

“So May 14 is the Republican primary. If you want your vote to count, this Republican primary is it. Traditionally, two-thirds of eligible Republicans don’t vote in the primaries. They wait for the general election.

“You can look at the numbers from my race with (former Congressman David) McKinley last year. Voter turnout was 32% for the primary. And this was a very expensive, hard-fought, active race on both sides, but the voter turnout was 32% among registered voters,” Mooney said. “So I just want to impress upon Republican voters, and those who may want to register Republican, the primary is your chance to have an impact in this race.”

Mooney wants voters to clearly see the differences between him and his Republican rival for the Senate seat, Gov. Jim Justice.

“Thirty-one members of the House of Delegates have endorsed me, and eight state senators. And guess how many have endorsed Jim Justice? None, literally nobody. And that really says something,” Mooney said.

“The case I’m trying to make is that my opponent is liberal. I’m a conservative Republican. I don’t think there’s anyone who doubts that. You can look at my voting record over 10 years. I’m in the Freedom Caucus. I’m endorsed by Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan and Rand Paul. My opponent was recruited by Mitch McConnell, and he’s the establishment guy.”

Mooney said cutting debt and building the economy are issues he is focused on.

“This county is $34 trillion in debt. I think that is a huge crisis for this country, and I’ve stopped voting for funding bills that create more debt,” he said. “I just won’t do it. I got attacked like crazy for it. There is some stuff in those bills that I would like, but we’re bankrupting America. It’s ridiculous. It’s got to stop.

“Justice supported the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the $1.2 trillion so-called Inflation Reduction Act. These spending bills will bankrupt our country. I won’t vote for them, and he has and will continue that.”

Mooney stressed that he is against raising taxes and has a history of voting to lower taxes.

“Justice tried to raise taxes as governor, of course, and I’ve never voted for a tax increase in my life,” he said. “People ask me when I travel, how are you going to help build the economy? Well, from the federal level, we had a tax rate that was uncompetitive, a 35% corporate tax rate if you wanted to open a business here. In Ireland it was a 10% tax rate. You’re talking a 25% differential on the bottom line. So it was economically really hard to open a business in America. So we cut that to 21%. I’d like to cut it more.

“I’ve proven that we can cut taxes and build our economy that way. My opponent wants more government spending. I am the conservative choice.”

Mooney has been elected to five terms in Congress representing West Virginia’s Second District.