AHC: Keep West Virginia Blue

Lost the game

Banned
Your challenge is to keep West Virginia as solidly Democratic as it was throughout the 20th century right up to today. What does this take? Would a prescient WV legislature promoting tourism in what is really an astonishingly beautiful state boost the economy, particularly with DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleaveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati all within convenient driving distance? Perhaps an early adoption of tax breaks to encourage IT companies plus investment in internet infrastructure to turn Charleston into some kind of "Silicon Mountain?" Perhaps a move by Democrats towards an embrace of Christianity through a version of the old "social gospel?"

Anything I missed?
 

jocay

Banned
Have West Virginia experience some of the same demographic changes that states like Vermont and New Hampshire were experiencing. Those two states were historically Republican and/or conservative but an influx of newcomers from New York and Massachusetts led to both states becoming more amenable to Democrats. Now West Virginia is historically a "blue state" with its rich history of labor agitation and what not but it is socially conservative and its economy is based on resource extraction; the same nonetheless applies. For whatever reason, divert some of the influx of DC residents into NoVA into West Virginia's cities and the state would become more amenable to the type of Democrats that exist nowadays.
 

Zwinglian

Banned
You don't need to change West Virginia you need to change the democratic party. Keep them more socially moderate and anti immigration
 

Zheng He

Anti-immigration is a bit harsh, I would say just stay realistic on the issue. For example consider the following statements from two Democratic Presidents and a two time Democratic Presidential candidate:

Barack Obama - “Those who enter the country illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those who are following the law, we simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

Hillary Clinton - "If we can tighten our borders, if we can crack down on employers who exploit workers, both those who are undocumented and those who are here as citizens, or legal, if we can do more to help local communities cope with the cost that they often have to contend with, if we do more to help our friends to the south create more jobs for their own people, and if we take what we know to be the realities that we confront — 12 to 14 million people here, what will we do with them?"

Bill Clinton - "All Americans, not only in the States most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In the budget I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify illegal aliens in the workplace as recommended by the commission headed by former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it."
 

Jiraiyathegallant

Try to keep things as they were. No major changes to immigration policy Post-War, strict (and perhaps even brutal) enforcement of said laws, remain more religious, and ignore Coal’s effect on Global Warming.
 

Deleted member 109224

Have Hillary Clinton be the 2008 Democratic Nominee instead of Barack Obama. Ted Strickland was her desired running mate IIRC and working-class whites were her 2008 base (along with white Democratic women).

OTL, the interior south was the only part of the country to get redder in 2008. It makes me think it's pretty Obama-specific.
 

Politibrit

As has been mentioned, you could make the Democrats a more socially conservative party, like it was pre-civil rights. Alternatively, you could create a situation where the Republicans are more socially liberal-perhaps Rockefeller or some other moderate legislates for civil rights with bi-partisan support, and the political divide becomes less about social issues and more about the economy, which would allow the Democrats to remain strong in WV. Preventing the decline of organised labour and the coal mines would also be good, though I suspect that would take quite a significant PoD.
Jackson Lennock said:
Have Hillary Clinton be the 2008 Democratic Nominee instead of Barack Obama. Ted Strickland was her desired running mate IIRC and working-class whites were her 2008 base (along with white Democratic women).

OTL, the interior south was the only part of the country to get redder in 2008. It makes me think it's pretty Obama-specific.
Click to expand...
Trump increased the Republican margin of victory in WV too (and above the national swing). It's likely got more to do with historic trends that have played out over the last few decades- the decline of organised labour, the increasing emphasis that the Democrats have placed on fighting climate change, than anything specific to Barack Obama.
 
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