Why one race in West Virginia proves Biden’s theory of the case has failed

Why one race in West Virginia proves Biden’s theory of the case has failed

James Hohmann — Read time: 4 minutes

May 10, 2022.

Rep. David B. McKinley (R-W.Va.) lost his bid for a seventh term on Tuesday because he voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. His double-digit defeat in West Virginia’s GOP primary, which largely turned on infrastructure spending, best illustrates why President Biden’s governing theory has failed.

When Biden ran for president in 2020, his central rationale was that he could yoke the two parties together and pass bipartisan legislation. He called President Donald Trump an “aberration” whose influence would quickly dissipate, and he believed friendships forged during almost 50 years in Washington would allow him to break the fever in ways President Barack Obama never could. “You will see an epiphany occur among many of my Republican friends,” Biden predicted in New Hampshire.

Last summer, after cutting a deal with Senate Republicans that would lead to passage of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, Biden claimed vindication. He mocked fellow Democrats who called him naive for believing the two parties could bridge their divides.

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Since then, however, Biden has passed no other pieces of major legislation. And those few Republicans who voted for the infrastructure measure are stepping away from politics, voluntarily or involuntarily.

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Securing money for popular projects used to be the easiest way for lawmakers to get reelected, especially in West Virginia. But appropriations have become less important in the past 25 years. And among Republican voters, spending has become almost dangerous.

Yes, West Virginia Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R) and Joe Manchin III (D) negotiated an extraordinary windfall for their small state as part of the infrastructure talks, including $6 billion for roads and bridges, $5 billion to upgrade the electric grid, $900 million to reclaim abandoned mines and plug abandoned wells, $600 million to expand broadband, including subsidies for 543,000 low-income residents to access the Internet; and $475 million to repair and replace drinking water pipes and sewer systems. But neither is up for reelection this year.

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As a member of the House, however, McKinley is up for reelection this year and his vote for the infrastructure measure put him in the crosshairs of his primary opponent, Rep. Alex Mooney, who voted against the measure and whose own district disappeared in redistricting last year.

Defending his support for the bill, McKinley cited the calls he received from mayors and county commissioners who were desperate for the federal help. As a professional engineer, he told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that he was tired of the “D” and “F” ratings the state’s infrastructure has regularly received from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

But Trump endorsed Mooney just days after the House passed the infrastructure package. The former president issued that endorsement the same afternoon Biden signed the bill into law and then recorded a radio spot for Mooney in which he attacked McKinley as “a RINO” — or Republican in Name Only — “who supported the fake infrastructure bill.” A narrator said in one of Mooney’s ads: “Liberal David McKinley sided with Biden’s trillion-dollar spending spree.”

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In the pre-Trump era, McKinley would have easily won this primary. His seniority would have put him in line to chair a powerful energy subcommittee next year.

Perhaps more significantly, Mooney faces two active House ethics probes related to allegedly misusing campaign funds and tampering with evidence to thwart a previous investigation. And the 50-year-old was vulnerable to accusations of carpetbagging. He ran for office in Maryland and New Hampshire before coming to West Virginia.

But the infrastructure bill was the chief topic in the only debate between the candidates last week. Mooney claimed the bill is part of “Biden’s socialist spending spree.” He criticized the bill’s subsidies for purchasing electric cars, “which will disproportionately help wealthy individuals living in blue cities,” and complained that the legislation “includes sexual identity and gender orientation language.” McKinley noted that Trump, while president, proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure package, twice the size of Biden’s.

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When he voted for the bill, McKinley lamented how many of his constituents still lack Internet access, especially students who needed to connect to WiFi from fast-food parking lots during the coronavirus pandemic. “Instead of playing politics, I put America and West Virginia first,” McKinley said in a statement. “I voted for those kids.”

On Tuesday, West Virginia Republicans cast a vote that helps explain why their state continues to fall behind its more advanced neighbors like Virginia. In too many places, fighting culture wars is now far more important to the GOP than investing in clean water, stable bridges and reliable broadband access.

Besides McKinley, a dozen House Republicans voted for the infrastructure bill. Five opted not to seek reelection. A sixth died in office (Alaska’s Don Young). Now, a seventh has been defeated.