Our Favorite Candidates in 2026 - Chase Linko-Looper, Kanawha County, WV Magistrate

In order for the American people to take back their government in 2026, revolution needs to happen at all levels of government, not just the federal level, but the state, county, and local levels too. It also needs to happen not just in so-called “swing” states, but in all states, especially ones that are under the total grip of the fascist Republican Party.

Chase Linko-Looper (he/they) is no stranger to adversity. A former Army veteran, Chase returned home from war to confront two other enemies: addiction and homelessness. After overcoming these struggles, Chase became involved in community organizing to fight the evils that plague his home state of West Virginia: addiction, poverty, housing eviction, and domestic violence. In 2024, Chase ran for Governor of West Virginia as the Mountain Party candidate, but for this current race he is running as an Independent. In 2025, he published A Walk In My Broken Shoes: The Cage Is The Country. In addition, Chase also started Fights Back, a community aid organization that works to feed the hungry. This millennial father is dedicated to strengthening mental health resources and transforming the Court into a place that treats people with fairness and doesn’t punish them for being poor.

Where are you based?
I’m based in Charleston, West Virginia, in Kanawha County. My life has been split between surviving here, leaving for the Army, coming back damaged, then rebuilding from the bottom in the same state that raised me.

What position are you running for?
I’m running for Kanawha County Magistrate. Magistrate Court is the front door of the justice system for most working people. It’s where a lot of folks first meet “the law,” usually on the worst day of their week. Magistrates handle misdemeanors, issue warrants, and do preliminary examinations in felony cases. It’s also where a lot of everyday civil disputes land, like small civil claims and landlord-tenant issues. As of the West Virginia Judiciary’s description, magistrates have jurisdiction over civil cases where the amount in dispute is up to $20,000, and they handle evictions and wrongful-occupation cases where title isn’t in dispute. Magistrates also issue emergency protective orders in domestic violence situations, and that work matters more than most people realize.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
Fairness, speed, and respect in the courtroom, without turning poverty into a conviction. My platform is simple in practice: People deserve to understand what’s happening to them in court. Folks deserve consistency instead of mood-based justice. Working-class people deserve a court that doesn’t treat being broke as a moral failure.

What inspired you to run?
A decade in the military trained me to stay calm in chaos, then Afghanistan showed me what power looks like when it stops pretending to care. Coming home didn’t bring peace. Trauma sat in my body for years without a name, and I tried to kill it with alcohol and drugs. Courtrooms became part of my life in the most personal way possible, including family court battles where diagnoses and paperwork carried more weight than the truth of what I lived. Now I’m running because I’m done watching regular people get processed like defects on an assembly line.

What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
In this district, I want the courthouse to feel less like a trap. Small changes become huge when you’re the person standing at the counter: Clear explanations. Realistic payment plans when fines land. Firm boundaries on contempt-as-a-personality. No casual cruelty, no performative toughness. On the bigger scale, I want people to stop trusting politics as a rescue plan and start trusting each other again. My book exists because I’ve seen how the machine grinds people down, and I’m done pretending the suffering is random.

What do you consider to be your major accomplishments so far?
Survival is one of them, and I’m not dressing it up. I made it through addiction and homelessness, then fought my way back into stability. Parenthood is another. I’ve kept showing up for my kid through systems that make it easy to disappear, including periods of supervised visitation and courtroom warfare. Writing A Walk In My Broken Shoes: The Cage Is The Country is up there too, because I put the truth on paper without polishing it for comfort. Building Fights Back also matters, because mutual aid and community defense kept people alive when institutions didn’t.

In 2024 you ran for Governor of West Virginia as the Mountain Party candidate. Can you tell us more about this party?
Mountain Party is a third-party option in West Virginia for people who are sick of the two-party loop and want something outside it. Back in 2024, I ran for governor with the Mountain Party because I believed a real break from the corporate chokehold had to start somewhere, even if it was uphill. I put serious personal money into it, took my lumps, and learned how brutal the political ecosystem is toward anyone who doesn’t bow to it. For this magistrate race, I’m running to serve people in a specific courtroom in a specific county. My focus is the job itself and how it gets done day to day.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
In Kanawha County, a few realities hit people over and over: Addiction and recovery, including how the system treats relapse as a character defect instead of a predictable part of trauma. Housing and evictions, where “civil court” becomes a fast lane into homelessness. Domestic violence, where quick protective action can decide whether somebody makes it to next week. Mental health, where the state often answers a crisis with handcuffs or a bill instead of care. As magistrate, I’m not passing laws, so I’m not going to sell fantasies. The job is about decisions, process, and how people get treated in the room. My approach is practical: Use the court’s tools to reduce chaos instead of multiplying it. Keep procedures consistent, so outcomes aren’t roulette. Treat people like humans while holding lines where safety demands it. Move cases efficiently, because delay becomes punishment.

America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
I’m not trying to unite people through slogans. Trust gets built in small moments, especially in a courthouse: Listening without performing. Explaining rulings in plain language. Applying standards the same way to everyone. Showing the same respect to the person in work boots and the person in a suit. A lot of “division” fades when people realize the system is finally dealing with them honestly.

How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
Combat taught me emotional control under pressure, and Afghanistan taught me how easily power lies to itself. Addiction and recovery taught me what shame does to a person, plus what accountability looks like when it’s real instead of performative. Court battles taught me how systems weaponize labels and paperwork against human beings, especially when you’re poor or mentally scarred. All of that makes me hard to intimidate, hard to manipulate, and unwilling to treat people like cases instead of lives.

What is your motto in life?
The system doesn’t break people by accident.

Where can we find out more about you?
My book, A Walk In My Broken Shoes: The Cage Is The Country, is the clearest window into who I am and what I believe. My campaign presence and public posts also show the day-to-day work, including what I’m organizing locally and what I’m fighting for. Find more at chaseforwv.org. Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, X, Tiktok