Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

How to Be a Democrat in Trump Country

A tough-guy House candidate, Richard Ojeda, is competitive in brightest-red West Virginia.

September 16, 2018 at 2:00 PM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Fitting in.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Southern West Virginia is the heart of coal country and cultural conservatism, with gun shops, Assemblies of God churches and American flags dotting the landscape. The region's congressional district is dominated by white, non-college-educated voters. President Donald Trump carried it by 50 percentage points in 2016.

Yet Richard Ojeda, a grandson of an illegal Mexican immigrant, has an even chance this November to take over the area's Republican-held seat in the House of Representatives. The one-term state senator is a tough-talking, decorated military veteran espousing the economic populism that enabled Democrats to dominate the state's politics during the second half of the 20th century.