Be they Democrats or Republicans, West Virginia’s political dynasties have let down their hard-working constituents time and time again.
Regardless of your party affiliation, when it comes to who represents you and advocates for our needs in the federal government, the most important quality one should look at is someone that comes from a similar background that one currently lives.
Here in West Virginia, two family names have popped up every 2-4 years, for nearly my entire life. I’ve seen the family names Manchin and Capito long be positioned as our supposed “representatives” for whose job is to advocate for the needs of the people of West Virginia. What have they delivered for you? Do you feel like your needs have been advocated for, by them, during their time in office?
Our previous Sen. Joe Manchin’s residence in Washington, D.C. was literally a houseboat that is valued at $220,000 ,but unexplainedly insured for an amount of $700,000; Just the purchasing price of his houseboat is just under the amount of four years of the annual median income of West Virginians ($60K).
Sen. Shelly Moore-Capito did a recent FOX interview where she wore a Hermes scarf, which can retail for more than $1500. I’m not one to normally pocket watch a person, but if you are someone who makes $16.25 an hour or less, she is wearing, at least, one of your paychecks around her neck.
To put this further into perspective, as of 2026, 28%-32% of Americans reported having less than $1000 in savings, 14%-27% report having no savings at all, and 53-59% reported that would be unable to afford an unexpected emergency expense of $1000, using their savings. When you hear the phrase “income and wealth inequality,” these are just a couple of examples. Gross displays of wealth such as this, while so many across their home state are suffering, It is immoral and does not represent the values of the working class.
Families such as Manchin’s and Capito’s, along with her Congressman nephew, Riley Moore, are too insulated from the struggles that the working-class face, especially in this state. They are also too insulated from the consequences of their votes, especially when their votes have caused material conditions to worsen and life becomes more expensive for the rest of us. What’s their net worth compared to yours?
According to CelebrityNetWorth and PoliticianNetWorth, Manchin’s wealth is in the $7–8 million range, placing him among the wealthiest of U.S. senators. Quiver Quantitative estimates Capito’s net worth at about $4.7 million, ranking her 173rd among members of Congress. This figure includes roughly $2.4 million in publicly traded assets tracked via STOCK Act filings.
Do you really believe they got to those positions and got that amount of money, because they work harder than us in the working class?
In 2025-2026, reports show that Capito’s’s campaign has taken $1.7 million dollars of out-of-state money. Reports also show that Capito and her nephew Moore have collectively taken over $400,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other organizations that promote the ongoing genocide and the atrocious war crimes that are currently ongoing in Palestine.
Do you think they have struggled to pay a bill, to afford food or medicine in the past 5-10 years? Do you think Manchin or Capito have struggled to put gas in their cars since the beginning of this Iran conflict, if they even pump it for themselves?
They can acknowledge the cost of living increasing for us, but they are not the ones who suffer from it.
In fact, they are actively contributing to the problem.
Political dynasties often have long deep ties to corporate and/or lobbyist money, as we can see from the numbers above. This alone also puts them in a position where they are putting profits over the needs of the people, to benefit the companies they have sold their families’ names to.
These “curiously” wealthy politicians, of generational names, have over the years has become a force standing above our culture in this state while increasingly separating themselves from it. This does not represent us, and I do not believe it is who we are.
We are the state of the battle of Blair Mountain, an event purposely silenced and taken from our textbooks during the great depression; an action I would argue robbed us of our class consciousness and history of solidarity of standing together as workers of West Virginia. And as the miners and their families showed solidarity and fought against the coal barons and the corrupt politicians who were bought, I would like the workers of West Virginia to embody that spirit, to organize and stand up to the corporations and lobbies in order to get real representation in the halls of Congress.
Because we are workers, and a worker should represent us in Congress, for the benefit of the working class in West Virginia.
