BRAXTON COUNTY, W.Va. — Senator Douglas Facemire (D, Braxton-12) has announced he will seek re-election in 2016.
Speaking to Hoppy Kercheval on MetroNews Talkline, Facemire said he will seek his third term in the Senate “as long as the people want him.”
“I enjoy it,” he said. “I feel quite honored to be representing the 12th district. So if the folks want me for another term, I’m going to run for another term.”
Facemire is a lifelong Braxton County resident and works in the grocery business.
“This state’s been very good to me and my family, and I feel like it’s an opportunity to give something back,” he said.
Facemire may have one of the safest races to run. In 2008 and 2012, he ran unopposed in the general election. He believes the Democrats have a good shot at chipping down the narrow Republican senate majority in 2016.
“We’re excited about the upcoming election,” said Facemire. “We think we have an opportunity to take the Senate back over, and we’re going to try real hard to do that.”
When asked about the state of West Virginia’s roads, Facemire was more cautious than some of his colleagues in openly endorsing a tax hike.
“I think we’ll take a look at every option that’s out there, and come up with the one that’s going to be less painful to the citizen,” Facemire said. “If we didn’t have to take that into consideration we could just raise the taxes and do it, but we have a lot of citizens out there who are suffering right now so we have to be conscious of the burden being put on the people.”
Republicans gained the majority in the Senate after Dan Hall (R-Wyoming) switched parties to break a 17-17 post-election gridlock.