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Rocky Seay

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Rocky Seay was a 2016 Democratic candidate for District 6 of the West Virginia State Senate.

Campaign themes

2016

Seay's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Coal

  • Coal has been mined in West Virginia for more than two hundred years and Rocky wants to see it mined for two hundred more. Rocky opposes overreaching regulations that threaten to strangle coal production forever. However, the most important thing to come out of a mine is the coal miner. This is why Rocky supports mine health and safety laws. Rocky was raised by a coal miner and feels very strongly about this on-going issue.

Education

  • We have to invest in our young people. Failing to do so is morally wrong and economically foolish. Educated children become skilled and capable of contributing to our communities and grow our economy. We must invest in education- we must pay our teachers more. Currently, West Virginia teachers are among the lowest paid in the country. Higher pay will attract better teachers and allow us to hold our teachers to higher standards. As Rocky's grandfather used to say, “you have to prune and water the vine to see fruit." It is with this common sense approach that Rocky will be a champion for our young people by being a champion for teachers. Teaching is the mother of all professions. Teachers inspire and create doctors, lawyers, engineers, miners, and every other profession.

Prescription Drug Abuse

  • Drugs have killed an entire generation of West Virginians, leaving us a state of grandparents and grandchildren. Everyone has lost or knows someone who has lost a loved one to this raging epidemic. Rocky's mother, Karen Johnson, died of a prescription drug overdose in 1998. Her death, like many others, was caused by drugs that she was legally prescribed and despite previous non-fatal overdoses, she was never taken off of them. Now, nearly 20 years later, graveyards are more crowded, and things are no better. We have to turn off the faucet that pours these drugs into our communities. There are doctors that make their livings by just writing unnecessary and even fraudulent prescriptions, so called “candy mills.” Rocky believes we need to audit high volume opioid prescribers. The good doctors have nothing to fear. The bad doctors should trade their lab coats for prison jumpsuits. This is only the first step, but it is a necessary one. We need to focus our efforts on treating the disease of addiction.

Working people

  • Rocky was raised by a UMWA coal miner, who often said “everything we have is but for the Grace of God and the UMWA.” Unions were so important to the history of our state and will continue to be important to its future. Rocky strongly opposes so called “Right to Work” laws because they are just veiled attacks on the ability of working people to unionize, thereby driving down wages. Rocky also opposes the repeal of the prevailing wages and vows to reestablish the prevailing wage. Working people are what makes West Virginia great. Rocky will work hard for working people.[1]
—Rocky Seay[2]

Elections

2016

See also: West Virginia State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the West Virginia State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 10, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was January 30, 2016. Incumbent Bill Cole (R) did not seek re-election.

Chandler Swope defeated Rocky Seay in the West Virginia State Senate District 6 general election.[3][4]

West Virginia State Senate District 6, General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Chandler Swope 57.11% 20,776
     Democratic Rocky Seay 42.89% 15,606
Total Votes 36,382
Source: West Virginia Secretary of State


Rocky Seay defeated Brandon Barker in the West Virginia State Senate District 6 Democratic primary.[5][6]

West Virginia State Senate District 6, Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Rocky Seay 64.64% 8,618
     Democratic Brandon Barker 35.36% 4,715
Total Votes 13,333


Chandler Swope ran unopposed in the West Virginia State Senate District 6 Republican primary.[5][6]

West Virginia State Senate District 6, Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Republican Green check mark transparent.png Chandler Swope  (unopposed)


Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Rocky Seay West Virginia. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

External links

Footnotes


Current members of the West Virginia State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Randy Smith
Majority Leader:Patrick Martin
Minority Leader:Mike Woelfel
Senators
District 1
Ryan Weld (R)
District 2
District 3
District 4
Amy Grady (R)
Eric Tarr (R)
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
Ben Queen (R)
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
Republican Party (31)
Democratic Party (2)