U.S. House of Representatives candidate Ace Parsi visits Elkins
Trending
ELKINS – U.S. House of Representatives District 2 Democratic candidate Ace Parsi brought his “Dollar General Tour” to Elkins last week, speaking with local residents about their concerns just before Election Day.
Parsi visited the Randolph County Democratic headquarters on Third Street to meet with local residents, before going over to the Dollar General store on Third Street to speak with residents about what concerns them. The visit was part of Parsi’s “Dollar General Tour,” which saw him visiting a Dollar General in each of the counties in District 2.
Running on a campaign focused on “affordability, care and empowerment,” Parsi said people are struggling regardless of their political party, saying that many feel as though the U.S. government is “out of reach.”
“Our people are so close to the edge, like economically, so that when you get these hits on utilities, groceries, gas, it throws so many people over (the edge),” Parsi told The Inter-Mountain during the visit. “I’m looking to really represent those people, and so I thought to myself, ‘Where would I find them that’s like everywhere in the district?’ Dollar Generals. One, those people are struggling and the people that are working there are not getting served cause they’re not getting paid enough. So how can I better understanding of the challenges they have and how I can actually represent them?”
When asked by The Inter-Mountain as to what has stuck out to him the most during this tour, Parsi said he was disheartened when a store associate told him that theft of food and diapers, among other basic essentials, has gone up at these types of stores. He said, as a father himself, it was “crushing” to hear that people had to steal in order to put a diaper on their child. He said it raises the question of how did we get to this point.
Prior to visiting the Dollar General on Third Street, Parsi met with around 20 residents at the Randolph County Democratic headquarters. To begin, he asked everyone to introduce themselves and say the one biggest issue fueling them to vote this election cycle. He wrote down the names and issues laid out as people spoke. While some mentioned cuts to healthcare, government corruption and America’s international reputation, several said they simply “don’t recognize” the America they once knew.
“There are people today that are waking up and putting their lives on the line because of this dream of what we had for 250 years, this amazing experiment,” Parsi, an Iranian immigrant whose family fled the authoritarian regime when he was child, said on Thursday. “And that is why we do what we do. We do it because democracy has to mean something to people here that are not getting represented.”
Parsi noted that, during his tour, “literally nobody” had yet told him that District 2’s current Republican representative, Riley Moore, who Parsi is running against, has shown up to talk to them. He joked that, for a moment, he thought Moore as actually Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), as Parsi had not met Moore until two weeks before this visit and Moore had not attended open houses that both candidates were invited to. Parsi and Moore debated each other Wednesday night before Parsi’s trip to Randolph County.
Parsi said that he’s told those he’s spoken with that, even if they don’t vote for him, he still wants to represent them in Congress and “make their life better.” He stated that West Virginias, “decent people,” need to be seen, but don’t feel seen at all by politicians or corporations.
“We have to say that West Virginians matter,” Parsi said. “We are not the collateral damage to some out-of-state profit anymore. That sh**, that’s over with. We are too good, we are too decent as a people to be just a resource colony for other areas. We’re just too good, and people deserve that dignity of representation.”
During his time at the Randolph County Democratic headquarters, Parsi touched on his policies against governmental cuts, against the influx of data centers and transmission lines, for focusing on affordability and more.
After visiting the Dollar General in Elkins, Parsi said he would try and meet with other local businesses before continuing his tour in Barbour and Lewis counties that same day.