Stephen Noble Smith (West Virginia)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Stephen Smith

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 9, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Charleston, W.Va.

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Stephen Smith (Democratic Party) ran for election for Governor of West Virginia. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 9, 2020.

Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2020

See also: West Virginia gubernatorial election, 2020

West Virginia gubernatorial election, 2020 (June 9 Republican primary)

West Virginia gubernatorial election, 2020 (June 9 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for Governor of West Virginia

The following candidates ran in the general election for Governor of West Virginia on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Justice (R)	63.5	497,944
		Ben Salango (D)	30.2	237,024
		Erika Kolenich (L)	2.9	22,527
		S. Marshall Wilson (Independent) (Write-in)	1.9	15,120
		Daniel Lutz Jr. (Mountain Party)	1.4	11,309
		Michael Folk (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	199
	Submit photo	Mitch Roberts (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	152
		Quintin Gerard Caldwell (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	6
	Submit photo	Kimberly Gross (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	6

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 784,287
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• David Sartin (Independent)
• Larry Trent (Constitution Party)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of West Virginia

Ben Salango defeated Stephen Smith, Ron Stollings, Jody Murphy, and Douglas Hughes in the Democratic primary for Governor of West Virginia on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Salango	38.7	74,554
		Stephen Smith	33.8	65,056
		Ron Stollings	13.3	25,686
		Jody Murphy	9.3	17,968
	Submit photo	Douglas Hughes	4.8	9,201

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 192,465
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Cecil Silva (D)
• Edwin Ray Vanover (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of West Virginia

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of West Virginia on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Justice	62.8	133,026
		H. Woody Thrasher	18.3	38,796
		Michael Folk	12.5	26,461
	Submit photo	Doug Six	2.1	4,419
	Submit photo	Larry Brooke Lunsford	1.8	3,844
	Submit photo	Shelby Fitzhugh	1.3	2,762
		Charles Sheedy	1.2	2,535

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 211,843
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Rebecca Henderson (R)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Governor of West Virginia

Erika Kolenich advanced from the Libertarian convention for Governor of West Virginia on April 8, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Erika Kolenich (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Mountain Party convention

Mountain Party convention for Governor of West Virginia

Daniel Lutz Jr. advanced from the Mountain Party convention for Governor of West Virginia on June 20, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Daniel Lutz Jr. (Mountain Party)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Stephen Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Smith's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Stephen Smith was born in Charleston, West Virginia. He learned from his parents Mark and Jane that in our state, we judge ourselves by the people we serve; not by the things that we own. Stephen graduated from Harvard College, where he joined with students, janitors, and cooks to win a living wage for all workers on-campus. Since then he has spent his life on the side of poor and working people--organizing alongside youth, immigrants and people with disabilities in Chicago before moving back home in 2012. For 6 years, Stephen led an anti-poverty organization in West Virginia that amassed 27 policy victories (5+ million school breakfasts per year, 180,000 people with health care, a raise in the minimum wage) and sparked more than 300 rural community gardens, after school programs, and small businesses. He is now running for Governor in a campaign that American Prospect editor David Dayen called "true bottom-up politics unlike anything I've ever seen." He lives in Charleston West Virginia with his son Jackson and wife Sara Whitaker, a Kanawha County public defender.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We are not for sale. Our campaign rejects corporate PAC and lobbyist money, and we will fight to get money out of politics.

• We must rebuild our tax structure to favor of small businesses and working families - not tax-dodging out-of-state monopolies.

• We are pro-cannabis. We can save lives, save money, and grow our agriculture industry for local farmers.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

West Virginia has the best people in America. And the worst leaders.

My family moved away when I was a kid, but my family and I moved home... because we saw that West Virginia could offer us a way of life that we wouldn't have anywhere else. We are told we are trash, but West Virginia ranks #1 in America in the time we spend with our neighbors. We're top 5 in various measures of volunteer service, military service, and charitable giving. It was West Virginia that started the Mine Wars 100 years ago and the nationwide teachers strike in 2018. We know how to take care of each other, and we know how to fight.

We must stop pretending to be someplace else. The things that make us unique - our generosity, our culture, our natural beauty, our smallness - can also be our strengths. We'll never beat the other 49 states trying to attract Wal-Mart or Amazon or Rockwool. But we can absolutely be the best place in America for entrepreneurs, small business owners, local farmers, artists, and people who care more about what's in their neighbor's belly than in their bank account.

We can only get that government if we fight for it - not one governor, but a movement. That's why we are recruiting pro-labor candidates to run up and down the ballot and building volunteer teams in all 55 counties (and 39 constituencies - Veterans Can't Wait, Seniors Can't Wait, and so on). Our movement is called WV Can't Wait, because it's built to last beyond one candidate, and beyond one race.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Mother Jones lost everything. She lost her children, her husband, her home. She moved to Chicago to start a new life, and there she lost everything again. Her pain made her stronger, and she became one of the great labor organizers in American history. The spirit of Mother Jones lives in every West Virginian who has ever chosen courage over complacence, and humor over heartache... every West Virginian who has chosen to fight.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

They must care more about being respected by their constituents than they do about being liked by the political class.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am a good husband and father. I'm not rich, and I've not been bought and paid for. I have a long track record of standing on the side of poor and working people, instead of getting rich off them. And I won't tell the same lie that all politicians tell: "trust me, I'll fix it." Never in American history has one politician been the answer to our problems. Real change only happens because of unions and movements.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Turtle by Perry Gripp

A governor is the top executive authority in his or her state. What does that mean do you?

The Governor is the leading public servant in our state - that means doing everything in his or her power to listen to, and be led by the people of the state... not by his own whim, not by the Good Old Boys in his ear, not by corporate lobbyists. We will build an executive branch of government where the people who work the hardest and bear the most are also the ones enforcing the laws and writing the budget. Imagine a Department of Commerce run by small business owners; a DEP run by farmers and surface owners; a DHHR run by foster parents, people with disabilities, veterans, and social workers. My job is to help make that happen.

Governors have many responsibilities, which vary from state to state. Which of those do you personally consider the most important in your state?

The two main responsibilities of West Virginia's governor should be to help shift who has wealth and political power in our state. For too long, Governors have served as the agents of out-of-state land companies and CEO's. It's time for our state to be put in the hands of the people.

Different states require governors to have different degrees of responsibility for the state budgeting process. If it were your choice, what do you believe is the appropriate degree of gubernatorial involvement with this process in your state?

West Virginia's governor is responsible for submitting a budget to the legislature for approval. It is my job to make sure that that budget is as transparent as possible, that it puts money back in the pockets of our citizens, and that it is created with the input of the people in our state who pay their taxes (not the out of state monopolies that dodge them).

In most states, governors have the power to make line-item vetoes. If that is true in your state, what would be your philosophy for how and when to use this power?

We will use whatever power we have, including the line-item veto, in our to shift wealth and political power towards working class people.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

Coronavirus Weekly Updates Documenting America's Path to Recovery The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

• Search Google News for this topic