July 12—FAIRMONT — Outside his town hall Thursday night in East Marion Park, U.S. Senate candidate Glenn Elliott spent the afternoon on Maryland Avenue working to put a face to his name.
“The overall goal is just to introduce yourself to people,” Elliott said. “You know, we’re going around all 55 counties and knocking on the doors of Democrats, independents and Republicans. We really need to appeal to everyone.”
Elliott doesn’t have the level of name recognition as his opponent in the Senate race, the governor. Jim Justice, he has. To counteract this, he is trying hard to make himself known to voters. Although he is early in the general election cycle, Elliott has a long way to go if he wants to reach all 55 counties by Labor Day.
“The primary already feels like it was last year,” said Elliott campaign adviser Jack Cook.
Elliott has traveled to 10 or 11 counties so far. Common tour topics are reproductive freedom, Social Security, Medicare, and Project 2025. As soon as Elliott showed up at a door, a woman immediately began voicing her concerns about Roe v. Wade. Wade and abortion.
The time Elliott chose to go door to door was a challenge. It started at the Immaculate Conception Church at 3pm, most people were not yet home because of work or other obligations.
No one answered for about half the doors Elliott knocked on. For every unresponsive door, Elliott left a campaign flyer. At a door, Elliott quickly backed away when he noticed there was a no soliciting sign. He said he would have avoided crashing if he had seen the sign in time.
“When you’re knocking on doors, you have to avoid being aggressive,” Elliott said. “You’re in someone’s personal space. When I first knock on the door, I can tell whether the person is interested in a conversation or not. And I’m not going to force the issue, I’m not going to be salesy.
“You have to keep in mind that they might be having a bad day or have something else going on. If they want to talk, great.”
An evasive resident left Elliott’s call unanswered when he knocked, only to exit her home, grab her flyer and place it in a large trash bag on the porch.
However, the slow start was not all negative. Elliott managed to bring one of the neighborhood cats to his side. A tuxedo cat approached him on the steps of a house and fell face down. Elliott paused to take a photo, he is collecting a photo album of cats he finds on the trail.
Elliott argued that Justice doesn’t have the same work ethic as him. He criticized the courts for not showing up and doing the governor’s job. Justice is known for habitually arriving late to meetings, to the point that a reporter at a meeting earlier this year asked him if he would vote in the Senate on time.
“As a result, many of the initiatives he talked about at the ‘State of the State’ this year didn’t make it into law because he wasn’t there fighting to lead on those issues,” Elliott said. “How to care for children. He talked a lot about child care in the state of the state. It didn’t translate into action.”
Elliott received a positive reception on the street. Jimmy and June Cale welcomed Elliott into their living rooms and Jimmy Cale had the opportunity to revisit some of his old military stories. Afterwards, Cales and Elliott talked a little about Elliott’s candidacy.
While both expressed concern about Donald Trump’s impact on American democracy, they were divided on Senator Manchin. Jimmy Cale defended Senator Manchin while his wife criticized the senator.
Fairmont City Council member Rebecca Moran, who lives across the street, said this was the first time someone of a state or national race had knocked on her door.
Not all receptions were positive. On the first or second door Elliott knocked on, an elderly woman politely kicked Elliott out of her door. About 40 minutes later, Jeremy Melton opened the door and gave Elliott a confused look. After Elliott introduced himself, Melton kept his sentences short and concise and said he did not vote in state or local races and would only vote in the presidential race. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was his choice.
“Change,” Melton said, responding to a question about why he preferred Kennedy. “Break the system.”
Political disengagement is something Elliott has encountered in his travels. To address this, Elliott said politicians need to actually walk the talk. Even if it’s a lost issue, like a street change Elliott promised while mayor of Wheeling, which the Department of Highways finally killed after a year, at least people could see it fought for.
Elliott also rejected any idea of running as a Republican, even if his chances improved in a red state. He said, “It’s not who I am.”
More than that, serving in elected office is not an embarrassing profession, he said.
Elliott sees this as an important election, not just for president, but also for down-ballot races like senator. A common topic he addressed with residents was how an additional seat could swing the Senate one way or the other.
David Sturm, another resident, appreciated the effort made to reach out to voters in person.
“If you want to represent the people, you have to know the people,” Sturm said. “So to come back here and say hi — if he can say he’s been all the way in Fairmont and every street in Fairmont, whether he’s met everyone or not, I’d say that’s a step in the right direction.”
Contact Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
