John,

We’re tired of the lies, stereotypes, and condescension we hear in the media about our home state. So we’re doing something about it.

This past week, WV Can’t Wait leaders Katey Lauer and Rae Kelsch were published in Newsweek--telling the truth about West Virginia.

Over the last few decades, as Manchin has consolidated corporate power (financiers and corporate lawyers are his most reliable donors), the Democratic Party of West Virginia has become the Joe Manchin Machine (his cousin is the current state chair).

This arrangement has served Joe (and his donors) quite well. For the people of West Virginia, it’s been a disaster.

When Manchin first won statewide office 20 years ago, more than 60 percent of West Virginians were registered Democrats. That number is now 36 percent , and Republicans just became the plurality party in the state in February, for the first time in nearly a century. Manchin is the only remaining Democrat to serve in a federal or statewide office.

Working class families have suffered most. Manchin’s pro-corporate policies robbed our roads, our schools, our water utilities and delivered untold wealth to out-of-state coal, pharmaceutical and natural gas executives. Labor unions were decimated. Jobs are now harder to get and harder to keep than they used to be. A generation of poverty and trauma has left scars. Our towns face historic rates of suicide, mental illness, family separation, and overdose deaths.

Read the article and share the Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/WVCantWait/posts/1653442218378928.

And WVCW co-chair Stephen Smith was invited on to the Cross Connection on MSNBC this Saturday.

See a clip and share the post here: https://www.facebook.com/WVCantWait/photos/a.901219400267884/1652815271774956/.

Want to see more honesty in the media? Help fund the movement at wvcantwait.com.

Sincerely,

Katey, for the WV Can’t Wait Team