This West Virginia 17-year old just beat an incumbent state delegate

[mystery-ak]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/05/14/this-west-virginia-17-year-old-just-beat-an-incumbent-state-delegate/?hpid=z3


This West Virginia 17-year old just beat an incumbent state delegate

    By Reid Wilson   
    May 14 at 12:12 pm


Saira Blair’s campaign flier

Saira Blair will graduate from a West Virginia high school later this month. She posts photos of her smoothie habit on Instagram, volunteers at the Martinsburg VA hospital and helps raise money for the Make-a-Wish foundation. She will not be eligible to vote until July.

But on Tuesday, she beat a sitting state delegate who was seeking a third term in office.

With all 13 precincts in her Martinsburg-area district reporting, Blair beat state Del. Larry Kump (R) by an 872-728 vote margin.

Blair campaigned on an antiabortion, pro-Second Amendment platform, offering her cellphone number to constituents and pledging not to go negative. She spent about $4,800 on her campaign, state finance records show (Kump, a former lobbyist, only spent $1,800 on his reelection bid).

“I think I’m fully capable of doing the job, and I don’t think it’s rocket science by any means — not if you just listen to the people,” Blair told the Martinsburg Herald-Mail this week.

She’s no stranger to politics, either: Blair’s father, Craig, is a West Virginia state senator. And despite being ineligible to vote for herself in the primary, she will be 18 in two months, meaning she’ll be old enough to vote in November, and to serve when the legislature reconvenes next year.

Blair will face Democratic nominee Layne Diehl in November, and she’s the favorite: Mitt Romney took nearly two-thirds of the vote in her district, according to a breakdown by the liberal DailyKos blog.

If she wins, Blair will balance her new legislative duties with another set of responsibilities: She will begin college this fall at West Virginia University. Safe to guess she’ll be the only member of the freshman class with a vote in the legislature.

[speekinout]

This is pathetic. She isn't at all ready for that job. What was wrong with the incumbent that he was thrown out?

[jmyrlefuller]

This is pathetic. She isn't at all ready for that job. What was wrong with the incumbent that he was thrown out?

I thought the exact same thing. When I was 17 I didn't see the world the same way I do now. I was just as conservative, mind you, but much more simple-minded on a lot of issues. There is so much change that goes on in a person's mind in their post-high school years. This woman could transform into a flaming liberal (and I have, sadly, seen it happen).

That campaign flyer reads like a girl who doesn't quite have it all going on upstairs. She looks like she will be easily used.

[massadvj]

This is why we have primaries.  Incumbents need to be held accountable, and if they don't face challenges, then we end up with the lethargy.  I say good for her.  She apparently worked her butt off while her opponent took the race for granted.  He deserved to lose.

Having been a political operative for assembly candidates I can tell you they often get tired of campaigning after a couple of terms, and expect things to get handed to them. 

I have no doubt this young lady will be a dependable conservative vote, and given how much seasoning she will have at a young age, she may well blossom into a national figure.  Let's hope so.

[R4 TrumPence]

This is why we have primaries.  Incumbents need to be held accountable, and if they don't face challenges, then we end up with the lethargy.  I say good for her.  She apparently worked her butt off while her opponent took the race for granted.  He deserved to lose.

Having been a political operative for assembly candidates I can tell you they often get tired of campaigning after a couple of terms, and expect things to get handed to them. 

I have no doubt this young lady will be a dependable conservative vote, and given how much seasoning she will have at a young age, she may well blossom into a national figure.  Let's hope so.

 

[speekinout]

I thought the exact same thing. When I was 17 I didn't see the world the same way I do now. I was just as conservative, mind you, but much more simple-minded on a lot of issues. There is so much change that goes on in a person's mind in their post-high school years. This woman could transform into a flaming liberal (and I have, sadly, seen it happen).

That campaign flyer reads like a girl who doesn't quite have it all going on upstairs. She looks like she will be easily used.

Yes, I think she will be easily used, and I don't think she's mature enough to have good judgement about who to follow. If she's very lucky, she will find a mentor who will help her gain knowledge, but if she's not, she will be taken advantage of by someone who just wants her vote. Things aren't as simple as they sound in campaign speeches, and politicians aren't known for telling exactly what they're trying to accomplish.

[R4 TrumPence]

If she's very lucky, she will find a mentor who will help her gain knowledge,

I think she has one:

She’s no stranger to politics, either: Blair’s father, Craig, is a West Virginia state senator.

[speekinout]

Repub, do you think she is just going to vote her father's position? That might be why some people voted for her - if they like her father's political record and think they're doubling it.

[R4 TrumPence]

Repub, do you think she is just going to vote her father's position? That might be why some people voted for her - if they like her father's political record and think they're doubling it.

I don't know, only saying that she does know more than your average young person, it would seem.

I have been waiting to hear what Mountaineer has to say about it all.

[Fishrrman]

speekinout wrote above:
[[ This is pathetic. She isn't at all ready for that job. ]]

Random thoughts:

She'll be better than any democrat.

Blair: “I think I’m fully capable of doing the job, and I don’t think it’s rocket science by any means — not if you just listen to the people...”

That's more than the majority of most legislators, at all levels of government, do now.

She'll probably do as well as many of them.
Probably BETTER than quite a few!

[speekinout]

speekinout wrote above:
[[ This is pathetic. She isn't at all ready for that job. ]]

Random thoughts:

She'll be better than any democrat.

Blair: “I think I’m fully capable of doing the job, and I don’t think it’s rocket science by any means — not if you just listen to the people...”

That's more than the majority of most legislators, at all levels of government, do now.

She'll probably do as well as many of them.
Probably BETTER than quite a few!

I don't agree with that at all. There are Republicans who do some pretty nutty stuff, too. I am not a fan of having to defend the party because a GOP elected official did something that just sounded good at the moment.
I would prefer to have qualified people in office, even if I didn't agree with all of their positions. It's a lot easier to reason with someone who has knowledge of the issues instead of just feelings about them. - of course, that does eliminate most dims.

[jmyrlefuller]

speekinout wrote above:
[[ This is pathetic. She isn't at all ready for that job. ]]

Random thoughts:

She'll be better than any democrat.

Blair: “I think I’m fully capable of doing the job, and I don’t think it’s rocket science by any means — not if you just listen to the people...”

That's more than the majority of most legislators, at all levels of government, do now.

She'll probably do as well as many of them.
Probably BETTER than quite a few!

The problem is which people she is going to listen to. Too often, politicians do all sorts of listening to people-- lobbyists, cronies, agenda-pushing activists, and so on. (Being a politician's daughter, she knows something about nepotism.) It's not so much listening to the people as it is having the knowledge and courage to do what is right, and get your colleagues to go along.

This is a state legislature, not student council. Now, I'm not one to dismiss a certain degree of youth in the legislative process, but there's a reason the U.S. Constitution requires Congressmen to be at least 25 years old, senators to be 30 and the President to be 35. 25 years old is not particularly old, but a person does gain a lot of mental maturity in the years immediately following legal adulthood. The last place this girl needs to be is surrounded by these types of crooks during those times. (Not that attending college wouldn't cause the same harm, although my friend circles in that time weren't major partiers; we had fun and a few drinks every now and then, but we were professionals.)