With an American flag soaked in blue skies as a backdrop and his three sons just finishing heaping praise upon him, it may have appeared Woody Thrasher was ready to give a presentation for an event at his Bridgeport-based business The Thrasher Group late this morning.

 

Instead, the comments from his sons and an equally warm welcome by Harrison County Delegate Ben Queen prefaced Thrasher’s presentation that was actually an announcement. In front of the building he and his late father Henry laid the groundwork for in Clarksburg decades ago, the Bridgeport resident told a crowd of hundreds that had gathered he was throwing his name in the ring to run for governor.

 

What that means is that Thrasher will challenge current Gov. Jim Justice in the 2020 Republican Primary election for the state’s top position. Earlier in the morning, Thrasher made the same announcement on Hoppy Kercheval’s Talkline show on MetroNews.

 

During his presentation at White Oaks, the development he’s largely responsible for and serves as the base of operations for his business where he serves as the chairman of the board, Thrasher said if elected he would be a one-term governor. He said he wanted a single term in order “do some fishing” and because he was going to make decisions on behalf of the state’s interest that might not be popular.

 

“For too long we have people that occupy office in our state that are more concerned about re-election than the direction the state’s going to go. Leadership is not a popularity contest and you have to be willing to make difficult decisions if you’re going to move this state forward,” said Thrasher. “People have been unwilling to make those difficult decisions. The last thing I want is a second term … I will make the tough decisions necessary and not worry about making everybody happy.”

 

Thrasher now enters the race against the governor he once worked for. Thrasher served as the West Virginia Commerce Secretary under Justice after being appointed. However, as Kercheval has pointed out, that ended in a less than happy fashion.

 

Last year, Thrasher was forced to resign. According to Kercheval in a recent piece, the reason stemmed from Justice’s dismay with Thrasher for Thrasher’s “delays in the long-term flood relief program. The controversy over the RISE program led the Governor to force Thrasher to resign last June.” During the meeting with Kercheval on the air today, Thrasher said the reasonings were incorrect and asked Kercheval for future airtime to explain why the Commerce department was on strong ground and why the RISE program was a success.

 

Thrasher was still shaking hands and talking with supporters following his presentation when Justice’s campaign manager Mike Lukach responded to the news of Thrasher’s entry with a statement emailed to the media. Lukach, after starting with welcoming Thrasher into the primary, lashed out at him.

 

“When Governor Justice appointed Mr. Thrasher as the Secretary of Commerce, the Governor, and all West Virginians, expected him to put the people of this state above his own interests. It’s sad that the opposite happened,” Lukach’s email statement read. “Instead, Mr. Thrasher used his appointed position to travel all over the world on the taxpayers’ dime to promote the private companies of his friends, and at the same time, forgot about the RISE flood relief program and all the West Virginians still recovering from the 2016 floods.  The Governor fights for the taxpayers of this state and won’t tolerate waste and abuse, which is why he demanded that Mr. Thrasher resign.”

 

The resignation set the stage for the announcement today. And Thrasher was able to toss a few barbs back the governor’s way.

 

“I just want West Virginia to have really good leadership. I do not believe we have really good leadership now,” said Thrasher during a brief meeting with the media after his presentation. Thrasher also was critical of the current status of West Virginia during his formal announcement to those gathered.

 

“The truth is, we’re not going in the right direction,” said Thrasher.

 

Thrasher said the state continues to be ranked 50^th in categories measuring positive issues in quality of life and ranked first in those reflecting negative trends. He cited the continued loss of population as a major concern with particular emphasis on young people leaving due to no opportunity.

 

“There’s a lack of opportunity because there’s a lack of leadership at the very highest level,” said Thrasher.

 

Thrasher pointed to his ability to create jobs and economic development as a tonic for the state’s woes. He said that’s not happening right now.

 

“The fact is the current governor isn’t doing it and neither will a career politician,” said Thrasher. “I’m a worker. I show up for work every single day.”

 

During his work as Secretary of Commerce, Thrasher said he was able to witness how things worked. He pointed to what he called a good foundation laid by the Republican-led Legislature and how there should be a strong relationship between the legislative branch and the governor’s office. He said he doesn’t believe that to be the case.

 

“There should be a teamwork atmosphere in Charleston and it simply does not exist. Our governor should be working hand in glove with the Republican legislature and they are not on the same team,” said Thrasher.

 

After much talk and introducing the crowd to his fiancé Stefania Salentro, Thrasher began to talk more about what he hoped to accomplish if he elected. He began to discuss the priorities for his campaign.

 

“If you haven’t figured it out, it’s about economic development,” said Thrasher. “That’s what I’m good at. That’s what I know how do. We need to expand and diversify our economy.

 

“For too long, we’ve been dependent on mineral extraction industries. When times were good we didn’t take the profits from that and diversify our economy,” he continued. “That’s why when those resources take a hit, we really take a hit exponentially.”

 

Thrasher talked about the state’s need for infrastructure and it was beyond roads and other traditional infrastructure that needs to be addressed. He pointed to a desperate need for broadband availability, particularly in small communities.

 

“(Those communities) are the backbone of our state and they’re dying,” said Thrasher. “They’re dying because we don’t have broadband. We’re (ranked) 50^th in broadband.”

 

Thrasher also pointed to the need to do better in education from kindergarten through higher education. He talked about his support for Right to Work, school choice, opposition to tax increases and the need to end special interest, while shortly thereafter praising the recent pay increases to educators and state workers.

 

The only regret about today’s announcement was that his parents, both of whom have passed, weren’t there. He talked with reverence and humor about his father Henry, who started the former Thrasher Engineering with his son and was known for his low-key demeanor and trademark pipe, on what he would have thought about his son running for governor.

 

“My father would be turning over in his grave because he thought small was better. He was a man that stayed under the radar,” said Thrasher with a big grin on his face. “In all seriousness, he and both my mother would have been extremely proud. They loved West Virginia just like I do … The one regret is they couldn’t be here to listen to their grandchildren. I’m sure they would have been so proud of them.”

 

Woody’s sons all introduced him. Austin, Cody and Kaelin were on hand to tell those gathered the impact their father has had on them. In the end, those three and other factors played a role in Thrasher’s announcement today. However, he said it boiled down to a simple thought process.

 

“At this point in my life I thought ‘do I really want to do this?’ I really had some self-reflection and what really struck me is that I realized I would feel horrible if I didn’t do this … I very much love my state that has been so good to me,” said Thrasher.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Woody Thrasher addressing the crowd this morning as his sons, from left, Cody, Austin and Kaelin, look on. Second photo shows Delegate Ben Queen introducing Thrasher who can be seen in the background. In the third photo, Thrasher's fiance Stefania Salentra, foreground, stands to clap at the end of his speech along with Dr. Jaclyn Rominger. In the fourth picture, Thrasher is shown after the event mingling with the crowd and shaking hands, while a shot of one portion of the crowd is shown below.