W.Va. Treasurer Riley Moore

CHARLESTON – Following in the footsteps of his famous grandfather and aunt, Republican State Treasurer Riley Moore announced Monday he would seek election to West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District seat in 2024.

Moore – now more than halfway through his first term as State Treasurer – spoke by phone Sunday prior to his official announcement Monday at noon at the Clarion Inn in Harpers Ferry, just down the road from his home in Shepherdstown. Moore said he was excited to take the next step in his public service.

“I’m extremely excited to be able to run for this seat and have the opportunity to serve in the House of Representatives,” Moore said. “I certainly think I’m the individual best positioned to run for this seat. My track record speaks for itself.”

Moore is no stranger to early campaign announcements, starting his campaign for State Treasurer within days of losing re-election for the House of Delegate in Jefferson County during the 2018 midterm elections. Moore is also no stranger to the U.S. House of Representatives. After attending college, Moore served as a staffer in the House for nearly a decade for the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

“There’s not a learning curve for me going in there,” Moore said. “I worked there for a number of years. I know exactly what I want to do and how to get it done. I can immediately get to work for the people of West Virginia and representing their interests there.”

If he wins the Republican primary and the 2024 general election, Moore would be the third member of his storied political family to serve in Congress. His grandfather – the late governor Arch Moore Jr. – served 12 years in Congress as a Republican representing counties in the Northern Panhandle. His aunt – U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. – represented the 2nd Congressional District from 2001 to 2015.

“This district is really a dream district for me,” Moore said. “The Eastern Panhandle is where I live, Morgantown was where I was born, and the Northern Panhandle is where my family has been for generations and generations. This would be an honor of a lifetime to be able to represent the 2nd Congressional District.”

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., has represented the 2nd Congressional District since Capito took her seat in the U.S. Senate in 2015. But due to West Virginia losing population, the state went from three congressional districts to two after the 2020 Census. The 1st Congressional District was combined with the 2nd District, creating the new 2nd District in the northern half of West Virginia, pitting Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., and Mooney against each other in the May primary.

Mooney defeated McKinley – a six-term Congressman since 2011 – and went on the defeat former Democratic Morgantown City Council member Barry Wendell in November for the new seat. But last week, Mooney announced his intentions to run for U.S. Senate in 2024 and challenge two-term U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

Despite a white-collar pedigree, Moore keeps his working-class roots at heart. He worked as a welder, earning an apprenticeship certificate from the C.S. Monroe Technology Center in Virginia. One of Moore’s first victories as State Treasurer was the passage of House Bill 2001, the Jumpstart Savings Program, allowing residents going into a vocation or trade to save money to cover the costs of work equipment, occupational licensing, certifications and startup costs.

“One of the things I’d like to do is make the Jumpstart Savings Program a federal program just like a college 529 account,” Moore said. “I want that to be everywhere in the United States … we need to focus on bolstering the trades and vocations here in the United States and in the State of West Virginia. I think the Jumpstart Savings Program – where we’re leading the way here in West Virginia – is critically important.”

Since defeating the six-term treasurer John Perdue in 2020, Moore has worked to improve returning unclaimed property to West Virginians, returning a record-breaking $18 million in unclaimed property during the previous fiscal year. Moore helped lead the fight to uphold the Hope Scholarship educational savings account program, allowing eligible families to use a portion of their state per-pupil expenditures for educational programs, such as tutoring, home schooling, and private schools.

“I want ESAs (education savings accounts) on the federal level,” Moore said. “I want universal ESAs. I want educational savings accounts just like the Hope Scholarship to be available to every student in America.”

Moore has also fought back against banks and investment firms that engage in boycotts of fossil fuel companies, supporting a bill to put such financial institutions on notice and pull state funds from banks that engage in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies.

“I’ve been dealing with members of Congress and people all over the country about fighting back against woke capitalism and the ESG movement,” Moore said. “I think there has to be somebody who has been in the trenches fighting this day in and day out at the state level to better inform what can actually be done at the federal level, so that is going to be one of my focuses.”

Beyond ESG, Moore wants to work on making the nation more energy independent with permitting reform for new energy projects, completing major energy pipeline projects, and providing job security for West Virginians working in these critical infrastructure fields.

“We need to have energy independence in this country again,” Moore said. “We had that under President (Donald) Trump, and we need to bring that back again. West Virginia can absolutely lead the way in that regard to bring us back to energy independence. That goes to the point of wanting to protect the jobs that we have here in West Virginia in the energy sector but trying to create more jobs.”

Having worked on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Moore sees China as a threat to the national security of the U.S. and an economic threat for U.S. workers. Moore wants to focus on how the U.S. deals with China.

“The U.S. and the Chinese economy are decoupling at a rapid rate, and the Chinese economy is decoupling faster from us than we are them,” Moore said. “We need to accelerate that in the United States. We need more barriers in places as it relates to their unfair trade practices that we’ve been undertaking with China all these years. We need to bring back the jobs to the United States. We need to get critical industries back into the United States.”

Moore said he hopes voters will give him a chance to continue the work he has already accomplished in the West Virginia Legislature and the State Treasurer’s Office by being their next representative in Congress.

“I am an America-first conservative,” Moore said. “That is the type of policies I plan to implement in Congress. Those are the types of things I’ve done in the (House of Delegates) and the State Treasurer’s Office. I want to continue that track record of conservative policies in Congress that I’ve fought for. I think my record speaks for itself, and I’m going to be highlighting that all around the 2nd Congressional District. I’m just excited to get out there and speak to the people.”