Riley Moore Bests Ace Parsi In Race For West Virginia’s 2nd District
Trending
MORGANTOWN - With 83% of the vote counted, incumbent Riley Moore was surging over challenger Ace Parsi in the race for West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District.
Moore, a former state treasurer whose grandfather was former West Virginia governor Arch Moore and whose aunt is Shelley Moore Capito, is the Mountain State's senior senator on Capitol Hill, having pulled down 133,273 votes to Parsi's 94,029 in the contest - prompting Associated Press to call the race at 9:22 p.m.
Parsi, an immigrant whose family fled the Iranian regime for the U.S. when he was a little boy, had netted a strong lead as the early votes came in, buoyed by a grassroots campaign that put him in every county in the district for multiple visits.
His campaign included a moratorium on data centers - which would have been his first piece of legislation as a lawmaker - and a willingness to listen to the stories of everyday West Virginians, he said.
Moore, meanwhile, had touted his prowess at bringing in more than $130 million in federal dollars to the district to date in Fiscal Year 2026, which he said would finance jobs and infrastructure improvements.
The two candidates had repeatedly chided one another over their respective politicking styles during the campaign.
Moore called Parsi, who had worked as a community organizer from California to Washington, D.C. before he and wife decided to settle in her hometown after the birth of their daughter, a "professional protester."
Parsi, in turn, slammed Moore for his support of the One Big Beautiful Bill and said Moore's constituents told him they didn't "feel seen" by their congressman.
He kept that tone - even as he called Moore to concede the race.
"I hope he will show up for every West Virginian in this district, because they deserve nothing less," he said in a statement.
"I have had literally thousands of one-on-one conversations at this point. I carry these stories with deep gratitude and they fuel a mission to serve these people with everything I have," he continued.
"West Virginians saw something special in me, lifted it up, and added their own talents to the pot: designs, videos, music, conversations, and jokes. Together, we built a campaign I never could have dreamed of creating on my own. To every volunteer, donor, and voter who was part of it: Thank You.
"My favorite West Virginia bumper sticker reads, ‘All Kinds Welcome Here.' This campaign proved it."