People in Logan County struggle with addiction and unemployment. For one Republican, helping them has meant crossing the party line.

May 6—Del. Jordan Bridges, a coal miner who represents Logan County, said he's had to break from the rest of the Republican caucus for the best interests of the people in his home county.

He said other lawmakers didn't listen to his concerns about an unemployment bill that cuts benefits and passed during the recent legislative session. The incumbent in the upcoming election, Bridges voted against the bill.

In coalfield communities, mining and related industries often still provide the best paying jobs available. But Bridges said during declines in the coal industry, it's hard for many in Logan County to get by. He too has been laid off and had to rely on state benefits.

"And if it hadn't been for unemployment, my kids would have done without," he said.

Logan County residents whom Mountain State Spotlight talked to about the upcoming election said they distrust politicians.

The county is separated into two House districts. The district encompassing the southern half of the county is represented by Bridges, who is facing Democrat George Howes in the election. Del. Margitta Mazzocchi is running unopposed for the county's northern district. Sen. Rupie Phillips, R-Logan, is also running unopposed for the Senate district that includes Logan County and several others.

Bridges agreed that some lawmakers are out of touch, and he described some of the backroom deal-making that can be disillusioning.

On the final day of the 2024 legislative session, members of the Senate waited to vote for a bill phasing out the income tax on Social Security benefits and public employee pay raises until the House of Delegates passed the unemployment bill.

Other Republican lawmakers, like Mazzocchi, were swayed by the GOP leadership's argument that the unemployment bill was necessary for the fund to survive a potential recession. Businesses benefit by paying less into the fund for when laid-off workers need it.

Mazzocchi said in an email that lawmakers found a reasonable solution.

Phillips didn't return calls, but he also voted for that bill. Howes, the Democrat challenging Bridges, also didn't return calls.

Residents also said they'd like to see public officials address addiction to heroin, fentanyl and meth, as well as people who are presumably homeless walking the streets.

Bridges said he hears the same concerns when going door-to-door.

"I do exactly the same job as 90% of the people in my area," he said. "I still live paycheck to paycheck."

Logan County was ranked fifth in the state with 160 fatal overdoses in 2021, the most recent year with county-by-county data included on the state website.

Bridges worries about reasons the drug epidemic has continued, like lack of prevention and treatment and access to jobs. But statewide candidates have spent much of their time creating fear instead by talking about fentanyl seizures at the Mexican border.

Neither Bridges nor Mazzocchi presented specific legislative solutions to address addiction and homelessness. Bridges said he regularly talks with other lawmakers about the issue but comes away frustrated with a lack of answers.

Mazzocchi said that generally, the community needs education to reduce derogatory stereotypes, and adult education courses, like job-training, bread baking, meditation, gymnastics, book reading and art classes.

"The state needs people to work, our economy needs to flourish," she said in an email.

Fighting addiction hits close to home for Bridges. He said his entire family has struggled with addiction. His cousin died and his family took in the kids.

He wants to see more access to recovery residences, where peers guide recovery, sometimes in a faith-based way.

Bridges doesn't favor increasing access to medication treatments that health officials say are effective, saying using them is just trading one drug for another.

But people who use drugs like heroin or painkillers are much more likely to overdose and die than people who are taking medication and attending counseling.

The Legislature put funding in the recent budget for the governor's Jobs and Hope job training program for people in recovery.

But over the years, policymakers' efforts to close pharmacies, increase drug penalties and crack down on drug dealers haven't worked. Fatal drug overdoses have dramatically risen over the last decade.

Logan County residents, even those working, said they are financially struggling.

Some residents said that they feel the effect of the boom-and-bust coal economy, West Virginia's low minimum wage and limited safety net programs.

In recent years, some Democrats have introduced bills to increase the minimum wage, but they have not gotten much attention from Republican leadership.

Bridges said he fought for funding for a coalfield economic comeback group, created in 2021, but it went unfunded, and another similar legislative effort failed during the recent legislative session.

"It was to help revitalize our areas because it's been devastated through the coal jobs declining, between that and the drugs," he said.

This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. Get stories like this delivered to your email inbox once a week; sign up for the free newsletter at mountainstatespotlight.org/newsletter