Cathy is an energy policy expert who has testified to the West Virginia Public Service Commission defending West Virginians from monopoly electric utilities. Her work analyzing the impact of natural gas drilling, pipelines, and absentee landowners has been cited by the Washington Post, AP, The Intercept, and members of Congress. She was an original board member of Sunrise Movement and she co-founded two state organizations, Rise Up WV and West Virginians for Safe Drinking Water. Now she’s part of a group of West Virginia candidates, WV Can’t Wait, energized by the teachers’ strike of 2018.
And if a climate hawk can get elected in West Virginia, then a better future for all of America is in reach.
Cathy is running unopposed in the primary. She’s already raised over $120,000 (which goes far in an inexpensive media market) and she’s signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge. Her opponent has introduced bills to make it easier for coal mines to cover up accidents and deaths (H.R. 4289, 115th Congress) and to repeal the gold standard. Of course he’s a long time denier of climate science, claiming that the science is not settled. And although the 2018 race attracted very little national attention, he only won 54-43. The difference between 2018 and 2020: an energized, mobilized electorate transformed by a teachers’ strike. And Cathy is one of the candidates running as a result of that strike.
