CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the Primary Election is Tuesday across West Virginia, the race for City Council in Charleston features a packed field and voters will have to narrow down the list.
Fifteen people, 11 Democrats and four Republicans, have filed to run for six at-large seats. That list includes four incumbents — all Democrats — of Becky Ceperley, Caitlin Cook, Jennifer Pharr and Emmett Pepper.
Challengers for the Democratic at-large bids include Joe Solomon, Chuck Hamsher, Shawn Taylor, Corey Zinn, Jonathan Lamar Frazier, Jeni Riser, and Deanna McKinney. Voters in the primary will choose six Democrat candidates to go on to November’s general election.
Republicans Mark Sadd, Larry Malone, Courtney Persinger, and John Bsharah are running unopposed as at-large candidates.
Solomon, a social worker who has lived on the East End for a decade, said voters should champion candidates that have already been making a difference in the city before running, and that’s him. Solomon notes his experience as a small business owner and working with Solutions Oriented Addiction Response West Virginia (SOAR).
“I’ve been out there working with SOAR distributing hundreds of thousands of Narcan doses and connecting people to treatment and healthcare,” he told 580-WCHS.
Solomon is part of a list of candidates from the ‘Charleston Can’t Wait’ platform. He said together they have goals of addressing senior living in City Hall, funding a youth task force, building a 24-7 trauma youth center, and having a $15 minimum wage in the center.
He added he has the experience to make an immediate impact on the drug crisis.
“This city council has largely watched and not acted at the scale of the crisis that we are in. I thought I want to bring this passion and expertise to council and help more CHarleston families stay whole through the years ahead,” Solomon said.
Taylor, who has spent the past 15 years practicing disability law in Charleston, was Charleston’s municipal judge from 2005 to 2010. He said from his experience both as a judge and in law, that the homeless suffer from mental health issues and addiction and the problem has always been finding services for them.
Taylor said part of the solution is to meet citizens in need where they are. He told 580-WCHS that people need to have compassion for the situation.
“That’s somebody’s daughter or son. I’ve never met, in my professional career as a judge or lawyer, anybody that actively chose to be homeless,” he said.
Pepper was born and raised on the West Side before moving to South Hills and graduating from George Washington as a teenager. In November, he was appointed to fill John Kennedy Bailey’s seat, who died in a car accident in September.
Pepper works at Pepper & Nason, assisting with foreclosure issues, family law and Chapter 7 bankruptcies.
He said his record in the past six months on council speaks for itself and he wants to keep the momentum going.
“We have to keep working to get more events. We have to keep working to help small businesses here. We have to address the things that are holding us back,” Pepper said on 580-LIVE.
Ward races include:
Ward 1, Robert “Og Roc” Pryor and incumbent Pat Jones, both Democrats.
Ward 2, Republican Jay “Doug” Hughart and incumbent Democrat Bobby Haas.
Ward 3, incumbent Democrat Chuck Overstreet is the lone candidate.
Ward 4, Democrats Anthony Jarrell and incumbent Larry Moore.
Ward 5, Democrats Candice Maxwell and incumbent Jeanie Faegre.
Ward 6, Democrats Michael Ferrell and Robert Bobby Burton.
Ward 7, Beth Kerns and Jeffrey Charles Mace, both Democrats.
Ward 8, all Democrats of Nathan Jones, Sarah Martin Anderson, Mataio A Swain, Kathy Rubio and incumbent Robert Sheets.
Ward 9, incumbent Democrat Mary Beth Hoover is the lone candidate.
Ward 10, incumbent Democrat Kelley Steele is running against Democrat Chelsea Steelhammer.
Ward 11, Republican Patty DeLuca faces incumbent Democrat Shannon Snodgrass
Ward 12, incumbent Democrat Joseph Jenkins is the lone candidate.
Ward 13, Republican Frank H. Annie and Democrat Justin Williams.
Ward 14, Republican Ashley Seaton Switzer against Democrat Patrick Salango.
Ward 15, Republicans Charles B. Dollison and Harper Gardner with Democrats Heidi Bonnett Adams and incumbent Sam Minardi.
Ward 16, Republican John F Gianoloa is the lone candidate.
Ward 17, incumbent Democrat Bruce King is the only candidate.
Ward 18, incumbent Democrat Bobby Brown, Democrat James Elam and Republican Pam Burka are the candidates.
Ward 19, Republican Brent Burton is the only candidate.
Ward 20, incumbent Democrat Chad Robinson and Republican Joey Spano.