BUCKHANNON — Councilman Dave Thomas was re-elected to city council, along with former Mayor David McCauley. On Election Night, Thomas received 394 votes, while McCauley received 373 votes.
Councilwoman Shelia Sines was deficient 29 votes, which would have placed her over the top. Sines obtained 345 votes.
Jim Valenson, the third no-name conservative in the race, overperformed and received 8.9 percent of the vote. This fractured the 60.5 percent of conservative voters in Buckhannon, ultimately costing the conservatives a seat on council.
Toward the end of the election, Valenson began increasing his visibility, attending various community events, while also knowing that his presence in the race fractured the conservative voting block.
Following Mountaineer Journal’s decision to endorse Shelia Sines, Valenson wrote to The Journal vehemently in disagreement with our decision,
“Funny how you back a candidate that will not answer simple questions in Record Delta, to afraid to answer simple questions and you say courage,” Valenson wrote. “Better get things straight, you can’t pick and choose situations. Exactly why nothing will change, definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and expect different or in your case better results.”
Valenson was referencing a retracted claim by The Record Delta that Shelia Sines declined to answer questions in their candidate survey, after it was discovered that she sent the answers to the Delta’s questions, but they were not received. Valenson’s remarks ultimately indicated that while he is ideologically a conservative, presenting himself as such during his campaign and on social media, he also took issue with the current conservative leadership running the city government.
In essence, Valenson was a local Ross Perot type figure, who ultimately fractured the vote so Clinton would win the Presidency.
As a result, 39.5 percent of liberals in Buckhannon elected a candidate opposed by 60.5 percent.
While local progressives rejoice over their city council victory, support for their candidates have actually decreased by 2.6 percent within just a two-year period. In 2020, McCauley (running as the liberal mayoral candidate) received 42.1 percent of the vote. This is especially concerning, considering that this election held a lower-republican turnout statewide, compared to when Trump was on the ballot.
This has ultimately led voters to question, should 39.5 percent of ideological voters be determining who represents Buckhannon in our city government?
Liberals now occupy 2 seats in the conservative 5 seat majority, which includes the conservative Mayor.