(Written by Savannah Jones)
MONONGALIA COUNTY W.Va – Diane Market Gaston, a first-time Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates seat in District 78, said she wants to take care of West Virginians that often get overlooked if she is elected.
“We have all kinds of folks that fall through the cracks, and those are the people that I certainly would like to assist, look at, and look after,” she said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Market Gaston has not previously run for political office but has served as a social worker with a focus on addictions for over 10 years.
She is up against current Delegate Geno Chiarelli, who has served two terms thus far.
Although she has not previously had experience in office, she has sat on the National Association of Social Work Board and Addiction Board, which she said has helped her understand the legislative process.
Market Gaston said she would like to return to West Virginian and Appalachian values, prioritizing family, independence, and individual rights, according to her campaign website.
“Our values are that we are incredibly strong people, we’re very independent, we’re hardworking, we’re resilient. We value, utmost, family and, second only to that, neighbors,” she said.
She said her time as a social worker inspired her to run for office and has given her the knowledge to properly combat the drug epidemic in West Virginia, as it does not require just one solution but many.
“Addiction is an incredibly complicated disease, and opiate addiction is, in and of itself, even more complicated. People will say, ‘Yeah, just stop.’ If it was that easy, everyone would do it, so it isn’t that easy,” she said.
Market Gaston said that many people in the throes of addiction are in different stages, and they are not all ready for recovery. She emphasized the importance of seeing what supports people currently have and what they need, whether that be long-term treatment, short-term treatment, or something in between.
One solution she encouraged is harm reduction, which she said is not yet recovery treatment but a way to keep those affected by addiction safe until they are ready for treatment.
“Harm reduction, it is a different focus; it is a different thought. It is that you know people are using, and we want to try to keep it safe, safe for them safe for their families. Safer is probably a better word,” she said.
Market Gaston said that she would like to improve the foster care system as well, partly by lowering the number of children that are shipped to out-of-state placements.
She said she would ultimately like to keep children out of foster care, which she said goes hand-in-hand with combating the opiate crisis.
In terms of economic development, Market Gaston said she would like to see some of the appeals of West Virginia tourism promoted more widely across the country.
“We do a nice job of trying to promote West Virginia within West Virginia, but we need to promote West Virginia to a lot of states, to the Midwest, the flatlands. Those people love the mountains, and the things that we have to offer in these mountains, a lot of people don’t know anything about,” she said.
As a small business owner herself, Market Gaston said she would like to help support small businesses as well, as entrepreneurship and small businesses contribute greatly to the growth of the state.
For more information on Market Gaston’s campaign, visit her website, dianeforwv.com, or her Facebook page, Diane for West Virginia.