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Build Economic Freedom for Every West Virginian

As a business owner, common sense conservative, and lifelong West Virginia Republican, I have witnessed a remarkable transformation as Republicans achieved supermajority control of our state legislature over the past decade. When my father, former Congressman David B. McKinley, served in a Democrat-dominated legislature in the 1980s and early 1990s, Republicans barely had a voice — with as few as one or two senators out of 34 and as few as eight or nine delegates out of 100. Today, Republicans hold supermajority control over both houses of the Legislature and all statewide ...

Utilizing the Right Way To Help Leave a Legacy

All we hear in the news and on social media sites is how many individuals want a “Legacy” to be praised and remembered for in their lives. Well, I hate to disappoint such legacy seekers, but in time, they will be forgotten and erased from existing on Earth. It’s everyone’s fate. Oh, there are great icons in many fields, the likes of George Washington, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks, and Thomas Edison, who are revered and written about in our history books or found on the internet. But they, too, will all pass. I am told the world is 4.5 ...

Trump’s Right — Time to Return Education to States

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a wave of education innovation has been sweeping across the United States. Parents, student, educators and education advocates alike realized the current one-size-fits-all system was not working and started to seek alternative education pathways that best fits each child’s unique needs. West Virginia led the way on this effort with the first universal education sayings program, the Hope Scholarship, with over a dozen states following suit. With President Donald’s Trump’s executive order to downsize the duties and authority of the federal Department of ...

Morrisey’s Summer School Threat Unlikely To Be Effective

We’re on the countdown to Crossover Day Wednesday, when state Senate bills must cross over to the House of Delegates and vice versa in order to ensure these bills have a chance of making it to passage by midnight on Saturday, April 12, when the 2025 legislative session ends. That means we have slightly less than two weeks until the 60-day regular session ends. For some, that day could not come soon enough. For others, such as Gov. Patrick Morrisey, he is already clamoring for a special session. “The more work the Legislature gets done now, the less time it will spend in ...

In West Virginia, Mountaineers Are Always Free. Right?

Since our unusual wartime creation in 1863, West Virginia has always had an independent streak. Mountaineers were meant to be free, after all. And many a West Virginia politician has made a career by railing against mandates from Washington. Our current governor, no less, built his brand by suing the federal government repeatedly as attorney general. And you need not listen long to hear this same anti-Washington sentiment echoed in the halls of the West Virginia Legislature where Republicans now control 123 of 134 legislative seats. “We know best what’s best for us,” is the ...

Act on Growth, Education and Child Care in West Virginia

In the wake of the recent flooding that did much damage to several communities in our state, we have seen firsthand the resilience and solidarity of West Virginia’s people. These floods reminded us of the need to better prepare and support our communities for the challenges ahead. From infrastructure to workforce readiness, we saw gaps in parts of our state. But beyond the visible damage, there’s an underlying truth: this crisis has underscored the pressing need to address some of the foundational issues facing our state. From economic development to education and childcare — ...