West Virginia Can’t Wait movement unveils populist pledge, summer of 10,000 conversations
“We’re fightin’ for a way of livin’ that’s worth livin,’ and endin’ the schism when politicians corrupt the system, failin’ to listen, power to the people is our mission, we’re West Virginians, we do not believe in submission, we’re sick of the rich pissin’ on our backs and callin’ it rain, broken promises, lies, more of the old and same […]
There’s pain in these hollers, hurt in these hills, poison in the water, too many chemical spills, tell Big Pharma that we ain’t payin’ them bills, they’re droppin’ them bodies still, their profits comin’ from pills, we lost our people to pills but never abandoned hope […],” $in Revel rapped passionately before belting out powerfully:
“We have to fight again, but we will not fight sin with sin, we will answer to our call to be both brave and bold, West Virginia Can’t Wait…”
West Virginia Can’t Wait’s statewide meeting Saturday, May 18, held in the historic railroad town of Hinton, in southern W.V. along the scenic New River, began with a live performance of the song “W.V. Can’t Wait,” by Sam Sarcone (or $in Revel), Huntington, W.V. resident, Charleston, W.V. native and CFO of a local non-profit organization.
“I don’t want to be a part of any movement that has no music,” Stephen Smith, W.V. Can’t Wait candidate for governor, said following Sarcone’s powerful performance which further energized and incensed an already impassioned crowd.
At the meeting, residents, local organizers, candidates and officials recognized the grassroots movement’s seemingly unprecedented accomplishments over the past six months, discussed and planned further strategies going forward, and, in the end, caravanned to a local medical center to stand in solidarity with striking nurses.
During the meeting, a W.V. Can’t Wait pledge including five commitments to be made by those running for or currently holding public office positions was revealed by movement leaders, who encouraged locals to present the pledge to their already elected representatives as well.
The populist pledge was taken by five candidates at the meeting and 27 others not in attendance. Those who have already signed the pledge are: Brittney Barlett, House of Delegates candidate, District 46; Levi Billiter, State Senate candidate, District 4; Sammi Brown, Delegate, District 65; Natalie Cline, House of Representatives candidate, 1st District; Kelly Elkins, City Council candidate, Beckley; Amanda Estep-Burton, House of Delegates candidate, District 51; Aaron Hackett, House of Delegates candidate, District 66; Nick (Johnny) Hager, Mingo County Commissioner candidate; Frank Jarman, Fairmont City Council candidate; Matt Kerner, House of Delegates candidate, District 45; Rosemary Ketchum, Wheeling City Council 3rd ward candidate; Richard Lindsay, State Senator, District 8; Royal Lowe, Magistrate candidate; Stormy Matlick, House of Delegates candidate, District 52; Troy Miller, exploratory House of Representatives candidate, WV 2nd District; Dakota Nelson, House of Delegates candidate, District 16; Harry Peck, mayoral candidate, Hinton; Jarryd Powell, House of Delegates candidate, District 50; Elliott Pritt, House of Delegates candidate, District 32; Gabe Roush, City Council 3rd Ward candidate, Point Pleasant; Tina Russell, House of Delegates candidate, District 27; Anjellica Scott, City Council candidate, Clarksburg; Candi Sisler, House of Delegates candidate, District 53; Stephen Smith, gubernatorial candidate; Danielle Stewart, mayoral candidate, Beckley; Cody Thompson, House of Delegates, District 43; Danielle Walker, House of Delegates, District 51; Lacy Watson, House of Representatives candidate, 3rdDistrict; Kevin Wiles, Harrison County Commission candidate; Kayla Young, House of Delegates candidate, District 35; Lisa Zukoff, Delegate, District 04; and Cory Chase, House of Delegates, District 53.
“Doing this is an act of courage and an act of sacrifice,” Smith said. “All of us taking this pledge are inviting a little bit more Hell into our lives — or maybe a lot more Hell.”
The candidates taking the pledge are risking money, relationships with family and public ridicule and are aware some people will attack them, “not just for what they stand for but for who they are,” but Smith said they will be prepared to fight back.
“We are not strangers to crisis in West Virginia,” Smith said... “What we are trying to do is radical in the true sense of the word.”
The W.V. Can’t Wait movement is one which prides itself on being structurally and significantly different from other modern political campaigns and which aims to instigate — and win — fundamental changes to the state’s power structure in favor of everyday working-class people.
“While every other campaign is out there doing things the same way — the way that got us into this mess — […] We have to build a whole movement rooted in doing things in a fundamentally different way,” Smith said.
Movement leaders and organizers distributed to everyone in the crowded room of Hinton’s historic McCreery Hotel lobby a piece of literature describing the fundamental differences between W.V. Can’t Wait campaigns and “Good Old Boy” campaigns.
A significant difference between W.V. Can’t Wait campaigns and other modern political campaigns is their reliance on resident constituency teams of activists and experts in various fields meant to influence and shape the candidates’ policies on their respective corresponding and related issues. The movement has built 55 county teams and 37 constituency teams in recent months, including a constituency team for those impacted by addiction and their most recent addition, a constituency team for those experiencing homelessness.
“This is how we win,” Smith said, “but this is about more than winning or getting a certain number of votes on a certain day. We have to fundamentally change what politics is,” with a grassroots movement dictated by regular people making decisions on issues they have experience with and know best.
Crucially, the W.V. Can’t Wait movement is not centered around one person, Smith said, as the vast majority of political movements throughout history have been — and have subsequently failed.
“To get the power we want, we are interested not in electing one person or a hundred people,” Smith said. “We are interested in building independent political power that lasts beyond the elections, so y’all can hold whoever is in office accountable, regardless of which elections we win or lose.”
The movement’s accomplishments over the last six months, as detailed by Smith for W.V. campaign manager Katey Lauer, include: 63 town hall and kick off events; 7 “W.V. Everywhere” launches around the country; 275+ visits with “small business owners, unions, caregivers, family resource networks, grandmothers and students”; 190 monthly donors and already surpassing the sitting governor’s small donor number for the entire 2-year length of his last campaign; over $186,000 in small dollar donations; 70 candidates in a candidate pipeline (which may subsequently be referred to as a ‘candidate river,’ following a suggestion by a resident in attendance to change the name from ‘pipeline’); 188 county captains recruited; 33 constituency teams built; 70+ press hits (including a recent Intercept article, which was the movement’s first national press coverage, despite months of building considerable populist momentum) and more than 20 “super volunteers” who have donated over 3,000 hours of work.
“And we’re going to have a summer of 10,000 conversations,” Lauer said, referring to a strategy unveiled at the meeting, in which volunteers and constituency team members will spend the summer speaking with locals face-to-face about issues most impacting their lives and their proposed solutions and desired changes.
Lauer encouraged locals to engage with others in conversations about politics, even those they would generally think — or have been repeatedly told by corporate media — they mostly disagree with. These conversations, she said, need to fundamentally change the framing of discussions about partisan politics and resource distribution, which normally pit average people against each other by only highlighting disagreements rather than encouraging them to work together by highlighting their many areas of agreement.
“We have to shift the structural status quo surrounding resource distribution,” Lauer said, because the fight should not be amongst everyday struggling people, but rather against those in power upholding the status quo.
“They pit us against each other so the status quo can continue,” she said. “We are seeking change within our state such that everyone can live with dignity.”
Collectively, the movement aims to participate in at least 10,000 one-on-one, face-to-face conversations over summer.
“This is how we can have the highest impact possible,” Smith said. “We are doing this to change politics.”
Movement leaders and volunteers further supported this strategy by explaining that, “We reach one person for every 273 pieces of mail we send. One person for every 35 phone calls we make. One person for every 15 people we talk to at the door canvassing. But when we schedule a personal conversation with someone, we reach them almost every time.”
“We’re not just going on tours and taking photos, we’re having real conversations with real people — deep, vulnerable conversations,” Smith said. “We are going to create a peoples’ platform, and we are going to build power.”
The summer’s conversations are meant to form the basis of a policy platform to be ratified by the movement this fall, and which will be voted on by constituency team members participating in the discussions.
In attendance at the meeting, and one of the five candidates signing the populist pledge, was Tina Gray-Russell, House of Delegates candidate for District 27.
Russell said she has known smith for nearly two years and attended his community organizing and grassroots meetings long before ever deciding to run for public office.
“What always impressed me about him is he always saw people struggling to escape poverty or drug addiction as people in need of a hand up, not being stereotyped as needing a handout,” Russell said. “He truly gets that most of us are only two missed paychecks away from being in the same struggle.”
A combat veteran who served in the Army for nine years, has worked as a social worker for 25 years and currently works as a public education teacher, Russell said she is “willing to die for a democracy that works for all, not some.”
Russell said she chose to run for public office, with Smith’s encouragement, because she feels “our democracy is under attack, and now is the time to fight…”
Douglas Harding can be contacted at harding26@marshall.edu.
