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WHEELING -- Rosemary Ketchum has become somewhat accustomed to being in front of the camera in recent years, but an upcoming documentary may likely offer the most raw and in-depth look to date into the small-town political venture that catapulted her into the national spotlight this summer.
Filmed over the course of an entire year, the new documentary "Rosemary" is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Monday on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. The documentary will be shown on PBS stations across the Mountain State, with the option of being picked up by PBS stations in markets across the nation, as well.
This summer, Ketchum won a contested race for the city of Wheeling's open Ward 3 council seat. What attracted national attention was the fact that Ketchum became the first transgender person elected to a public office in West Virginia.
Countless media outlets across the nation gravitated to the story, focusing on an angle of how a small town community in a state that so many people view as conservative at best -- and far from progressive -- could rally behind a transgender person.
While Ketchum has expressed pride in breaking the glass ceiling on this issue, her focus has been on doing whatever she can to tackle local issues and help make the community a better place.
"I had considered running for office about a year before announcing my candidacy," Ketchum said this week. "I was just kind of batting around the idea and had spoken to folks in my community in Ward 3 about what that looked like and if they would be willing to support my run for office."
With overwhelming support, people in the Friendly City encouraged Ketchum to run.
"The local NPR affiliate caught wind of my potential race and asked if I was interested in them kind of following me around for a little while, and I said 'sure,' if I decide to run and potentially win, I would love for them to kind of walk around with me.
"I didn't know that it would be an entire year of documenting my every move, but it was all good!"
Filming began early in the summer of 2019, and filmmakers started documenting Ketchum's campaign, without knowing how things would turn out.
While it was an unusual situation to have a small film crew following her around for months on end, it was not particularly uncomfortable, Ketchum indicated. Prior to entering into the political arena, she had been an active community organizer for a number of years, and just by default, she had already begun establishing good working relationships with members of the local media.
"It wasn't weird at first, and the further we got into the campaign, the more natural it felt to have someone document the political aspect of it, which made me feel really good about it," Ketchum said. "Local politics is not taken as seriously or not considered as sexy as state or federal politics, so I was really grateful that we had a chance to tell the story of the city of Wheeling and to broadly tell the story of local politics across the state of West Virginia."
The crew was professional and earned Ketchum's trust, she noted. In fact, the documentary film was produced by Corey Knollinger and Chuck Kleine, both of whom are residents of Wheeling.
"They are journalists, and therefore they were interested in capturing the true essence of the campaign," Ketchum said. "It wasn't a PR piece — they weren't there to make me look good!"
As the campaign gained momentum toward the municipal election in early June, the producers became even more interested in following the campaign and all of Ketchum's events and meetings.
"I have not seen it yet," she said of the half-hour documentary. "I feel bad, because they sent it to me and they've asked me, 'hey, what do you think?'
"I don't have a problem watching myself when I've done an interview or when reading my quotes, but this is so much more close to home in many ways and feels so intimate that I kind of don't want to watch it by myself. Of course we live in COVID-19, and we can't have a big, local premiere like we had initially planned. But I do want to gather a few close friends in a COVID-safe way to watch it with me — at least members of the campaign team who are also featured in the film.
"I'm sure they did a good job."
When Ketchum first decided to get into local politics, there was an initial concern that a lot of people would focus on her gender identity instead of her actual credentials, personal drive and other assets that pertain to the job at hand. Nonetheless, since her win, the national storyline has been rooted in the narrative of the "transgender human rights warrior blazing a trail and breaking stereotypes in West Virginia," which she handles with grace and with a level head.
Since her campaign and subsequent election, she has been featured in Time magazine, on NBC's Today Show, MSNBC, People magazine and even Jon Lovett's Lovett Or Leave It podcast. Newspapers and television stations across the nation ran her victory story this summer.
"It's funny, because people ask me 'aren't you so nervous to do these interviews, talking to Time magazine and The Today Show?' Ketchum noted, explaining that she is never as nervous dealing with national media as she is when she talks to the local media about local issues. It is evident that the local issues truly are her primary focus.
"I can talk to the folks at the Today Show — they aren't my neighbors," she said.
Regardless of all the phone calls and emails requesting national-level interviews, Ketchum makes it a priority to remain accessible to her constituents and people in the city. While Ketchum seems to keep a level head about the national spotlight anyway, her focus on local, community based issues also helps keep her grounded, she said.
"We're talking about homelessness, substance abuse disorder, race issues — these are issues that are deeply relevant here in the city of Wheeling," she said. "I've never felt more focused on issues that are impacting the city of Wheeling, and I'm so grateful in many ways that we're able to tout a progressive story of the city of Wheeling and of the state of West Virginia to the world. Because, I'll tell you, unfortunately to the rest of the world and the United States, they often don't have a favorable view of the state of West Virginia. It's unfair and I think grossly misrepresentative. But I'm grateful to just try to change and shift that narrative."
Ketchum said she had full faith that the producers captured the essence of her campaign, noting her perspective that the story should be less about her and more about a true, unique glimpse of life in the Ohio Valley.
"I'm sure they did a good job," Ketchum said. "I know the documentary is called 'Rosemary,' that's not my editorial decision to make those choices! But the documentary is really about rural America. It is about what it's like to run a campaign and to organize in Appalachia. I think it really illustrates so many of the struggles and challenges that we face here in the state of West Virginia."
Ketchum said it is her hope the documentary exemplifies and illustrates the resilience people in the community have built.
"As a rule, it kind of comes with the territory coming from West Virginia," she said. "We are resilient, and we are in many ways kind of fed up with the status quo, business-as-usual leadership that we have seen, and I know that the documentary filmmakers have done an incredible job of helping tell that narrative in a way that's both straightforward and honest."