Election 2022: Mooney, McKinley face off Tuesday in West Virginia primary

(The Center Square) – West Virginia Republicans located in the state’s second Congressional district will choose between two incumbent lawmakers in Tuesday’s primary race: Rep. Alex Mooney and Rep. David McKinley.

Because of West Virginia’s continuous population decline, the state lost one of its three Congressional seats, which forced the state to adopt new legislative districts that pushed two incumbents into a single district. McKinley, who had represented the first district, and Mooney, who had represented the second district, will both be vying for the party’s nomination for the new second district.

To date, the primary has been contentious.

Mooney has garnered support from former President Donald Trump and has touted his staunch conservative record. However, he has faced criticism for not having strong ties to West Virginia and only running for office in the state shortly after he moved there.

McKinley has garnered support from the more moderate wing of the party and even state Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. He has focused parts of his campaign on being born and raised a West Virginian. He has faced criticism for having a more moderate voting record, but has defended his record by noting that he voted with Trump more than 90% of the time.

President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill in November is a dividing point. McKinley was one of 13 House Republicans who supported the infrastructure legislation, but Mooney voted along with most members of his party to oppose the bill. McKinley claimed the bill would help improve roads and bridges in West Virginia, but Mooney asserted that the bill would raise the deficit and contained a number of liberal priorities, rather than focusing on actual infrastructure priorities.

The two were also divided on legislation to create the commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. Although they both opposed the Select Committee, which would have been led by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, McKinely was one of 35 Republicans to support a bipartisan commission. He said it would be a fair investigation. Mooney voted against both commissions, in line with the majority of his party, claiming that they were witch hunts and wasteful spending.

In his endorsement of Mooney, Trump touched on both of these issues.

“Representative Alex Mooney has done an outstanding job as congressman in West Virginia,” the former president said in a statement. “In fact, he recently opposed the horrendous Biden Administration’s ‘noninfrastructure’ plan, and he opposed the January 6th Committee, also known as the Unselect Committee of partisan hacks and degenerates. Alex has been strong on crime, borders, our great military, and a champion for our veterans. He will always protect our 2nd Amendment, and of particular importance is the fact that Alex fights for energy and beautiful clean coal – and he will never stop. Congressman Alex Mooney has my complete and total endorsement!”

In Manchin’s endorsement of McKinley, the senator said that McKinley’s record has opposed wasteful spending and took a shot at Mooney.

“David McKinley has always opposed reckless spending because it doesn’t make sense for West Virginia,” Manchin said. “Alex Mooney has proven he’s all about Alex Mooney. But West Virginians know David McKinley is all about us.”

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