West Virginia governor’s pick stands on opposite sides of abortion debate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginians will choose Tuesday between the Republican gubernatorial candidate backed by former President Donald Trump, who defended abortion restrictions in court, and the Democratic mayor who fought to include the issue. on the ballot, voters decide.

Both Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams have played outsized roles in combating the drug crisis in a state with the highest opioid overdose death rate in the country. But they have little similarity.

When it comes to abortion, the two are completely different.

Since he was elected attorney general in 2012, Morrisey, 56, has prosecuted opioid manufacturers and distributors, winning nearly $1 billion to fight a crisis that has left 6,000 children in foster care in a state with a population of about 1.8 million people.

Calling himself a “conservative fighter,” Morrisey also used his role to lead on issues important to the national Republican Party. These include defending a law banning transgender youth from playing sports and a scholarship program passed by lawmakers that would encourage parents to pull their children out of traditional public school and enroll them in private education or homeschooling.

Key to his candidacy was his role in defending a near-total abortion ban passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2022 and in going to court to limit West Virginians’ access to abortion pills.

In a statement after a U.S. District Court judge blocked access to abortion pills in 2023, Morrisey vowed to “always stand firm in protecting the life of the unborn child.”

A former Huntington city manager and member of the House of Delegates, Williams, 60, has worked to transform his city from “the epicenter of America’s heroin epidemic” to one known for its solutions to helping people with substance use disorders.

After being elected mayor in 2012, he established the state’s first citywide drug control policy office and developed a strategic plan that included equipping first responders with the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone and implementing court programs to divert the attention of sex workers and people drug users.

Abortion was a key part of his election platform. Earlier this year, Williams collected thousands of signatures on a petition urging lawmakers to vote to put abortion on the ballot.

West Virginia is among 25 states What do not allow civil initiatives or constitutional amendments on statewide ballots, a path of direct democracy that has allowed voters to bypass their legislatures and preserve abortion and other reproductive rights in several states over the past two years.

Republicans have repeatedly rejected the idea of ​​giving voters abortion rights, a step only lawmakers can take in West Virginia.

Republican leadership pointed to a 2018 vote in which just under 52% of voters supported a constitutional amendment that said there was no right to abortion access in the state. But Williams said the vote was also about government funding of abortion, which some might oppose without wanting to cut off access entirely.

If elected, Morrisey would become only the third Republican to serve a first term as governor in West Virginia since 1928. Outgoing Gov. Jim Justice, now a Republican, was first elected as a Democrat in 2016. A few months later, he changed parties to the Trump Rally.

Polls across the state open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.