H. JOHN ROGERS

H. John Rogers of New Martinsville estimates he has run for public office at least 12 times during his life, and he said he will make another run for West Virginia’s 2nd District Senate seat in 2018.

Rogers, 77, was on the general election ballot for a 2nd District seat in 2016, but as a Libertarian candidate. This year, he said he will return to his roots and run as a Democrat for the seat currently occupied by Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did,” Rogers said of running as a Libertarian. “The Libertarians are wonderful on human issues, but when it comes to economic issues — they don’t show much empathy for the people.”

Rogers said he appreciated the populist appeal of President Donald Trump, a Republican, during the 2016 election.

“I really can say that Trumpism without racism is my ideology,” Rogers said.

But he isn’t so sure Trump is for the working class.

“When he talks about bringing back coal, he’s talking about bringing back (Murray Energy CEO) Bob Murray — not the guys on their knees with shovels,” Rogers said.

Rogers said since 1968, he has run for governor, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and most recently state Senate.

In 1972, he made it to the general election ballot as the Democratic candidate for Marshall County prosecutor.

“This is my 12th time running for office, and I wanted to go out swinging,” he said. “I’m eternally optimistic. I want to speak for people not usually spoken for. I have something to contribute — at least in my opinion.”

The Republican Clements has officially filed for re-election in 2018.

“If I win the primary, I know Charlie and I can run a race that sets a model for a good, clean campaign,” Rogers said.

­”We are as opposite as two people can be. I’m far left, and he’s far right. I’ve known him for 40 years and have never supported him, but we can talk back and forth. That’s what is missing today.”

Rogers is a graduate of Reader High School and of West Virginia University, where he attended on a scholarship for track and field. He said he worked construction and was a prison guard before entering Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1966.

In the 1980s, Rogers began studies in theology and obtained degrees from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y.