US Senate candidate Glenn Elliot applies personal touch before hosting Fairmont town hall

Jul. 12—FAIRMONT — Before his town hall Thursday evening in East Marion Park, U.S. Senate candidate Glenn Elliott spent his afternoon on Maryland Avenue working to put a face to his name.

"The general goal is really just to introduce yourself to folks," Elliott said. "You know, we're touring all 55 counties and knocking on doors of Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Really, we need to appeal to everybody."

Elliott lacks the level of name recognition his opponent in the senate race, Gov. Jim Justice, has. To counteract that, he's putting in the work to make himself known to voters. Although it's early in the general election cycle, Elliott has a long way to go if he's going to reach all 55 counties by Labor Day.

"The primary already feels like it was last year," Elliott's campaign aid, Jack Cook, said.

Elliott has traveled to 10 or 11 counties so far. Common topics on the tour are reproductive freedom, Social Security, Medicare and Project 2025. As soon as Elliott introduced himself at one door, a woman immediately launched into her concerns about Roe v. Wade and abortion.

The hour Elliott chose to go door-to-door proved challenging. He started at Immaculate Conception Church at 3 p.m., most people were not at home yet from work or other obligations.

No one answered for roughly half the doors Elliott knocked. For every door that didn't answer, Elliott left a campaign flyer behind. At one door, Elliott quickly backtracked once he realized there was a no soliciting sign. He said he would have avoided knocking if he had seen the sign in time.

"When you're knocking on doors, you have to air on the side of not being pushy," Elliott said. "You're in someone's personal space. I can tell when I first knock on a door whether they're interested in a conversation or not. And I'm not going to force the issue, I'm not going to be a pushy salesperson.

"You have to keep in mind they may be having a bad day or have something else going on. If they want to talk, great."

One avoidant resident left Elliott's call unanswered when he knocked, only to emerge from her home, grab his flier and stuff into a large bag of trash on the porch.

However, the slow start was not all negative. Elliott managed to bring one of the neighborhood cats over to his side. A tuxedo cat approached him on the steps of a house and flopped on to its belly. Elliott paused to take a photo, he's collecting a photo album of cats he encounters on the trail.

Elliott argued Justice doesn't have the same work ethic he has. He criticized Justice for not showing up and doing the work of governor. Justice is known for being habitually late to meetings, to the point a reporter at a scrum earlier in the year asked him if he would make senate votes on time.

"As a result, a lot of the initiatives that he talked about in the 'State of State' this year didn't get enacted into law because he wasn't there fighting to lead on those issues," Elliott said. "Like childcare. He talked a lot about childcare in the state of the State. It didn't translate into action."

Elliott met some positive reception on the street. Jimmy and June Cale welcomed Elliott into their living rooms and Jimmy Cale had the opportunity to revisit some of his old military stories. Then, the Cales and Elliott spoke a little bit about Elliott's candidacy.

While they both expressed concern about Donald Trump's impact on American democracy, they were split on Sen. Manchin. Jimmy Cale defended Sen. Manchin while his wife criticized the senator.

Fairmont City Council Member Rebecca Moran, who lives on the street, said this was the first time anybody from a state or national race knocked on her door.

Not every reception was positive. On the first or second door Elliott knocked on, an elderly woman politely shooed Elliott away from her doorstep. Roughly 40 minutes later, Jeremy Melton opened his door and cast a bemused look toward Elliott. After Elliott introduced himself, Melton kept himself to short, terse phrases and said he didn't vote in state or local races, and would only vote in the presidential race. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was his pick of choice.

"Change," Melton said, responding to a question on why he preferred Kennedy. "Break the system."

Political disengagement is something Elliott's encountered on his travels. To address it, Elliott said politicians need to actually do what they say. Even if it's on a losing issue, like a street change Elliott promised while Mayor of Wheeling which the Department of Highways finally murdered after a year, at the very least people could see fought for them.

Elliott also shot down any notion of running as a Republican, even if his chances would improve in a red state. He said, "It's not who I am."

More than that, serving in elected office is not an embarrassing profession, he said.

Elliott views this as a consequential election, not just for president but for down ballot races like Senator. One common theme he touched with residents was how one additional seat could flip the Senate one way or the other.

David Sturm, another resident, appreciated the effort to reach out to voters in person.

"If you want to represent the people, you need to meet the people," Sturm said. "So, walking back here and saying hi — if he can say he walked all the way in Fairmont and all the streets in Fairmont, whether he met everybody or not, I would say that's a step in the right direction."

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com