West Virginians’ governor choices stand on opposite sides of the abortion debate

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

Both Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams have played an outsized role in fighting the drug crisis in the state with the highest rate of opioid overdose deaths in the country. But their similarities are few.

When it comes to abortion, the two couldn't be more different.

Since he was elected attorney general in 2012, Morrisey, 56, has led litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors, netting around $1 billion to abate the crisis that has led to 6,000 children living in foster care in a state of around 1.8 million.

A self-described "conservative fighter," Morrisey has also used his role to lead on issues important to the national GOP. Those include defending a law preventing transgender youth from participating in sports and a scholarship program passed by lawmakers that would incentivize parents to pull their children from traditional public school and enroll them in private education or homeschooling.

Key to his candidacy has been his role in defending a near-total ban on abortions passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2022 and going to court to restrict 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 strong for the life of the unborn."

Former Huntington city manager and House of Delegates member Williams, 60, has worked to change his city from the "epicenter of the heroin epidemic in America" to one known for solutions to help people with substance use disorder.

After being elected mayor in 2012, he instituted the state's first citywide office of drug control policy and created a strategic plan that involved equipping first responders with the opioid overdose reversal drug Naloxone and implementing court diversion programs for sex workers and people who use drugs.

Abortion has been a key part of his campaign platform. Earlier this year, Williams collected thousands of signatures on a petition to push lawmakers to vote to put abortion on the ballot.

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

Republicans have repeatedly dismissed the idea of placing an abortion-rights measure before voters, which in West Virginia is a step only lawmakers can take.

Republican leadership has pointed to a 2018 vote in which just under 52% of voters supported a constitutional amendment saying there is no right to abortion access in the state. But Williams said the vote also had to do with state funding of abortion, which someone could oppose without wanting access completely eliminated.

In Charleston on Tuesday, first-time voter Candace Morris said abortion was the most important issue to her in deciding who to support in the race. She chose to support Williams.

"I just don't think it's right for the government to control women's reproductive rights," said Morris, a 19-year-old student studying social work at the historically Black West Virginia State University. "I don't want to have to leave the state to get an abortion if I need to get one. I just don't think it's right, especially for lower-class people without resources."

William Harmon, a retiree from Hurricane, said he supported Morrisey because he likes what he has accomplished as attorney general. "I think he'll defend us very well," he said.

Harmon said Democrat Steve Williams "really didn't seem to be very active until these last two weeks before the election."

"I don't think anybody outside of Huntington really knows him very well," he said.

Kristen Greene, an elementary school teacher from Charleston, said she is a Christian registered Republican who is vehemently against abortion. She considers it her one of her top issues when it comes to deciding who to vote for, she said.

However, Greene said there was no way she could support Morrisey for governor. In 2018, when West Virginia school service personnel and teachers went on strike, Morrisey said the strike was illegal and that he would go to court to try to force workers back on the job.

"I don't trust that he has the best interest of teachers at heart," she said. "He didn't support teachers. Does he expect teachers to support him?"

Greene, who previously lived in Huntington, said she's a "big fan" of Williams and the job he's done as mayor.

"I stand behind him," she said.

If elected, Morrisey would become just the third Republican elected to a first gubernatorial term in West Virginia since 1928. Outgoing two-term governor Jim Justice, now a Republican, was first elected as a Democrat in 2016. He switched parties months later at a Trump rally.

Polls statewide open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.