Parsi

PARKERSBURG – Three Democrats are running for the nomination for the 2nd Congressional District in West Virginia for the U.S. House of Representatives.

The candidates are Ace Parsi of Morgantown, a community organizer; Stephanie Spears Tomana, a science teacher and coach from Idamay in Marion County; and Steven Wendelin of Wardensville, a veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Incumbent Riley Moore, Republican, is unopposed in the primary.

Parsi was born in Iran and fled the authoritarian regime with his family when he was 8 years old. The family supported itself by an older brother working at a grocery and his mother’s sewing and babysitting, friends and other public sources.

“I believe I have a responsibility to my daughter’s future to contribute to a society that is a democracy, supports people’s rights and voices, treats all people with kindness and advances a better standard of living,” Parsi said in an interview with The Journal in Martinsburg.

Parsi’s platform includes policies promoting affordability by helping workers impacted by economic policies, lower prices on food and key items for families, and infrastructure investments. He proposes a 2-for-1 Community Investment Plan would for every $1 in wages lost when a factory or mine shuts down, $2 is re-invested into the community.

Among other issues he supports are tax incentives and zoning reform to build more housing so West Virginians can afford to stay in the state, universal child care, increasing Title I funds for at-risk rural schools and redirecting lost funds for vouchers back into public schools, reducing tariffs that cause grocery prices to rise, energy diversification, reversing cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill, increasing minimum wage and increasing public interest loan forgiveness and student support for public service careers.

Tomana

Tomana was born and raised in Marion County and was in the marching band in high school, where she was active in athletics. She earned degrees and certifications in biology and secondary science education from West Virginia University and Fairmont State College.

West Virginia for too long has been represented by “elitist” politicians,” Tomana said. They have no sense of the communities or residents they represent, according to Tomana.

“You can’t legislate a life you haven’t lived,” she said.

Her issues in the campaign include data centers and water quality, encouraging women in science, ethics and accountability, health care, rural opportunity, veterans and economic issues.

Tomana’s economic platform includes expanding workforce training and apprenticeships; connecting schools, community colleges and unions to in-demand careers in health care, energy, skilled trades and STEM; incentives for local investment and federal programs that reward companies for hiring West Virginians; offering union wages and committing to long-term investment in communities; repeal of anti-union laws; reclassifying gig workers to guarantee benefits; creating programs for people reentering the workforce after caregiving, addiction treatment or incarceration; protecting SNAP, Medicaid and Medicare; and keeping essential food and health care programs available, especially in rural and distressed areas while linking benefits to workforce and family support programs and raising the minimum wage.

More issues unite people than divide them, said Tomana, a candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates 75th District in 2022 and 2024.

“I just felt for a long time that we haven’t had a real voice,” Tomana said.

Wendelin

Wendelin, who served 39 years in the Navy, said the problem is Congress doesn’t work for people.

“I don’t need the job,” Wendelin said in an interview with The Journal. “But I can’t stand by and watch what’s going on with the country and let it go unchecked.”

Wendelin’s platform includes banning stock trading by members of Congress, establishing term limits, ending dark money and overhauling campaign finance. He also supports raising the federal minimum wage and corporate penalties for poverty wages, repealing Right to Work laws and strengthening collective bargaining by fully restoring the National Labor Relations Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act; protecting Social Security and retirement programs; removing the cap on Social Security taxes. He favors national anti-scam legislation, universal health care and nonprofit health insurance, protection for rural hospitals, fully funded rural broadband, restoration of federal agencies safeguarding mine safety, clean drinking water, veterans’ health care, rural development, emergency preparedness and environmental protections, among numerous other issues.

The 2nd Congressional District stretches from the Ohio River and Northern Panhandle to the Eastern Panhandle including the local counties of Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie, Tyler, Wetzel and Wood.

The state has two congressional districts. Primary candidates in the 1st District are Democrats 

Britta “Brit” Aguirre of Logan, Vince George of South Charleson and Republicans Larry Jackson  of Hanover and incumbent Carol Miller of Huntington.