Senate Republicans are beginning to worry that they will lose their majority after the 2026 midterm elections. As Trump’s policies of ignoring cost of living, getting the US involved in more wars, trying to ram through laws that disenfranchise voters and target trans Americans, and violently sweep up American citizens and throw them in concentration camps begin to turn off a majority of Americans, they have reason to worry. It still is a long way until the November election, but the way things are going, it does not bode well for most Republicans in Congress.

In West Virginia, a working class state whose Republican representation in Congress has repeatedly failed its citizens, a new generation is beginning to challenge aged representatives (75% of West Virginia’s Congressional representation is over age 72). Rachel Fetty Anderson (she/her/Ma’am), is a pro-bono attorney, bocce coach, and mom of four whose Christian faith inspires her to do good works for the poor and working class. When she was 17 she was lured to Switzerland and put into indentured servitude due to her illegal immigration status, which has given her a unique perspective on the plight of undocumented immigrants in America today. Today she is passionate about Medicare for All, providing government services for the homeless and working poor, and restoring public utilities to working condition in a state where 250,000 people lack access to safe drinking water.

Courtesy of Rachel Fetty Anderson for U.S. Senate

Where are you based?
I’m based in Morgantown in Monongalia County where the Monongahela River runs North towards Pennsylvania. We’re a fairly small town, with only 30,000 permanent city residents and 24,000 WVU students, but Mon County has around 109,000 people altogether. On game days we squeeze an extra 50k football fans in for fun.

What position are you running for?
I’m running for the U.S. Senate. Our primary elections will be held May 12th and I’m running as one of the “Spicy Five” Democrats for the Democratic nomination. Whoever wins will then likely run against our current Republican Senator, but it’s been a spicy year for the Republicans too, so we will see. The Senate is a particularly important forum for West Virginians because it is our primary opportunity to make a difference in federal policy. Like most red states, we are drowning in red policies that make day to day life pretty difficult, so we are losing population and currently have only two delegates in the U.S. House of Representatives.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
Integrity: From the very beginning I knew that West Virginians are skeptical to the bone about the intentions and integrity of any politician for good reasons.

There’s a saying around here, “don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining”. It’s hard to avoid the feeling of piss sliding down your leg when you see brown water coming out of folks’ taps, the poor treatment of educators and caregivers, the derision of our elected representatives and the way they treat their young people and voters.

I am honest about why I am determined to win. I am motivated because I live here too. I raised my children in these communities. I send my kids to local schools. Our family struggles with healthcare systems where doctors can’t and won’t stay. I share the same air, the same water and the same hopes for my kids. I want to give them a reason to choose West Virginia. They can’t stay if it’s not safe for women and girls, they can’t stay if there is no opportunity. They can’t stay if the environment is too foul to breathe or the water too polluted to drink.

Empathy: In West Virginia I get to see true servant leadership in action every day and it is empathetic leadership.

More people than you can imagine are working on our real problems every week, running food banks, transporting seniors, caring for the sick and the elderly and supporting people in recovery because they take the time to be empathetic and want real solutions to real problems.

Like all West Virginians I get to see failures of leadership every day as well. Our red leadership votes to cut SNAP, Medicaid benefits and ACA benefits to the sickest population in the country; they approve diverting community resources to corporations when our children are not getting the education they need to accommodate the harms corporations have done to their air, water and parents; they vote to divert our Abandoned Mine Funds away from our state when our communities STILL don’t have clean water.

Looking around from our statehouse to our state we can see that leadership without empathy is sloppy, foolish and ineffective. We are committed to starting from a place of empathy and care for West Virginians.

Accountability: Accountability requires that we accept responsibility for our plans, our efforts and our results. If I understand that I am responsible for the results of my leadership

We hope that these values will help us win over West Virginians to our plan which is basic but focused on our day to day needs: protection of our basic human rights, protection of our water, soil and air, excellent education and child care services, housing development and support and universal healthcare.

What inspired you to run?
Like many West Virginians I have been working in my community on many pressing issues for many years: housing, poverty, food insecurity and transportation challenges are all areas where West Virginia struggles along with the rest of the country. After our current President was re-elected I expected more of his first term, but was shocked to see unprecedented and really unpredictable behavior. The way that each executive action was staged to marginalize voters, empower corporate leaders and billionaires and reap a profit for the Administration without regard to welfare of our citizens, was Blitzkrieg like. Then came the Big Beautiful Bill and I was honestly terrified for my clients and the state.

Our state economy was and is very fragile. Yes, we have our charming down towns and adorable shops and beautiful tourist areas, but middle-class flight means that many of our residents are elderly or disabled and are dependent on social benefits to survive. Inflation hits small rural grocery stores and Family Dollars hard. Gas price fluctuations and increases in costs for electricity, buying bottled water because water supplies are non-drinkable for months and years, these are challenges to family budgets in the best of times. Folks that should be in our middle class, our teachers and state employees, are paid less than almost anywhere in the nation and every middle-class person I know is supporting or assisting dependents and extended family.

In this economic environment, cuts made by the Big Beautiful Bill to programs like the Affordable Care Act subsidies are driving middle class families into the ground. We have seen increases in an insurance premiums of $300-$3000.00 per month across our middle class. This increase is simply not bearable. Simultaneously, there are massive cuts to HUD, LIEP programs, student loan aid, food stamps and other benefits, families and people I know are choosing to take pay cuts, lose their insurance and simply forego care, sending us back to a pre-Obamacare era that was unimaginable four years ago and unbearable now.

I visited our Senator’s office last year, essentially begging that she vote against the BBB. I attended an action with the Poor People’s campaign in Washington D.C. in July. Despite our efforts, there was no sense that we were being heard. She does not attend town halls, she does not seem to staff her offices. People I care about have been arrested for protesting because they asked her to answer basic questions about her voting record. I knew that I had to try to elect a person that would listen to their constituents even if I had to do it myself.

What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
We are committed to bringing integrity, empathy and accountability to the office of Senator in West Virginia. I embrace integrity by refusing to accept campaign donations from corporations or industry or groups that do not align with my values. We have written comprehensive ethical guidelines.

We strive to bring empathy to the campaign by meeting with folks in as many counties as possible to learn about their unique regional challenges.

We plan for accountability by welcoming diverse voices and making changes when necessary. I make myself available for calls and meetings and town halls with the public now and vow to continue those efforts in the future.

Our country and state desperately need elected officials that understand that they work for their constituents. Our current administration has acted in an erratic and unconstitutional manner that deprives our economy of basic stability, our people of basic services and our environment from basic protections.

The only available explanation for such basic failure is that our leaders are working for someone else. I draw a straight line between their votes against West Virginia’s interests to their donors and the President. If I can restore even a bit of faith in our democracy to our people, I would consider it a huge win, but I know that improvements in our conditions, our education and our economy will follow.

What do you consider to be your major accomplishments so far?
I served on the Morgantown City Council for four years and served as Deputy Mayor for two years. Our accomplishments as a council included steps reducing vandalism and arson, improving the quality of life for our LGBTQ+ population, making our downtown safer, establishing a Community Police Review and Advisory Board, renovating our parks and increasing contributions to our pensions, the last item is not very sexy, but was critical to improving our employees’ security in the long term.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
When I began the campaign our most pressing issues were healthcare, water, utilities and education. Since January 12th , we have watched the Administration double down on violence on American citizens, violate the human and civil rights of Americans and our neighbors and bomb and pillage other countries. My perception of the solutions and the problems have shifted.

In West Virginia we have watched our Republican leaders vote against our interests thousands of times at the federal and state level. We are patted on the head and told repeatedly that corporations need protection from regulation, unions, FOIA requests, workers, their neighbors who enjoy breathing and taxes.

Now we can see these same attitudes and behaviors levied against the rest of America and it turns out nobody deserves to have their Constitutional rights violated. Everyone has contributed enough in paid and unpaid labor to deserve basic services from the government. No human deserves to bear the brunt of the havoc that corporations and industries enjoy while they pillage the American budget, our air, our water and our children.

I offer a clear alternative to a corrupt millionaire class of politicians who have forgotten their voters and won’t even come near them. All four of our representatives in the House and Senate have helped themselves to West Virginia’s bounty on the backs of our families. They are tools of the Administration, apologists for corporations and industry, tax cheats, liars and puppets of the Heritage Foundation.

I live here, I work here, I volunteer here. I see us. I know how hard West Virginians work and I feel they deserve to have the basic things they have demanded for decades: clean water, clean air, excellent educations, safe child care, universal healthcare and the loyalty of their representatives.

America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
What we don’t share in ideology, we share in humanity. Every human needs clean air, clean water, food, shelter and healthcare. I hope to reach across our ideological divides by spending time with our voters and constituents and creating an environment where they can feel free to express themselves, deliver their grievances and demand appropriate solutions to their challenges.

True accountability requires taking responsibility for both the problem and the solution. Listening before, during and after implementing a proposed solution allows folks to suggest meaningful improvements and leads to better outcomes.

I am curious about almost everything, but that curiosity does not make me an expert. Nor does an election. Humility and listening create space for everyone to create the solution. So much of our politics is virtue signaling. Some people interpret that as assuming a holier than thou approach. I like to think of it as an effort to find people that agree with us, because most of us believe we will be able to understand each other if we agree. Unfortunately, this seems to be a mistake.

Efforts to understand each other can lead us to agreement and even the smallest agreement can help us reach a solution. My goal is to continue to encourage folks to strive for understanding and to stay open to it myself because we are all hurting together. This is critical in a state like West Virginia where trust is in short supply.

How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
My background allows me to understand many of the challenges of West Virginia life without a long explanation. I know what it means to be poor, to be a caretaker for an elder, to live in rural America, to rely on public benefits and experience a certain amount of scorn because of it. I understand what it means to be a woman and face discrimination in the workplace because of my domestic responsibilities and a lack of healthcare or childcare. I know what it means to have a sick child and get the best care and sometimes really deficient care. I know what it means to raise a child with a disability or to foster and adopt a child and these are frankly the experiences of thousands and thousands of my fellow West Virginians. One nice thing is that I also know that folks are not experiencing these challenges because they are West Virginian. They experience deficient solutions in West Virginia, but their problems are universal.

What is your motto in life?
This was the hardest question because I needed a new one. Right now my mantra is, “You’re safe, you’re calm, you chose to be here.”

Where can we find out more about you?
You can find more information at fettyandersonforsenate.com, my socials are:

Facebook @rachelfettyanderson

Instagram @rachelfettyanderson

Web Fettyandersonforsenate.com

Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2026 - Rachel Fetty Anderson, U.S. Senate, West Virginia