How did WV become solid red state?

Question for the board-West Virginia is currently a solid Republican state and has been for the last 4 presidential elections. My question is how or why did this happen? It was usually a fairly sold Democrat state even after the realignment of Southern whites to the GOP. Not only did Clinton carry it both times, but Carter carried it in 1980 and Dukakis carried it in 1988. It appears that the 2000 election is when it became a Republican state. It seems strange to me that a state that went for Dukakis just 12 years earlier would not go for Gore. Any ideas?
 
Coal and culture wars. Plus it was boosted by rich whites leaving maryland and dc to go to west virginia, see Alex Mooney for a good example.
 
The ascendance of the Green/environmentalists really did a lot of it. Since the Democratic party is critical of hydrocarbon energy, the mining/gas/oil sectors obviously lost a role in the party. So while the Democrats were traditionally drawing the support of workers, the mining industry was more or less kicked to the curb.

The green wing of the party draws more money, so it's a net plus for the party.
 
I had heard that the coal industry was a major reason for the shift, but I'm not familiar with the specifics. I can't see WV's shift being the result of the culture wars. After all, Clinton had much bigger blemishes in that regard than Gore did, and he carried it twice. And WV went for Dukakis in an election in which he was hammered repeatedly over culture issues.
 
Yup, it's all about the coal industry. West Virginia's economy is reliant on it and the environmentally-conscious Democrats are perceived as wanting to destroy it. Until one of those two things changes, the Republicans have West Virginia locked-up on a national level. With that being said, pro-fossil fuel Democrats like Joe Manchin have done well there, which indicates a willingness to cross over if you're willing to pander to their single-issue voter mentality.
 
Yes. Coal, coal, and more coal. Coal pretty much IS the WV economy save for some minor contributions like other types of mining, transport, tourism, and some minor tech & finance stuff. Democrat moves to curb coal consumption is pretty much viewed as a stake in the heart of the WV livelihood. Otherwise they're big Union, more socially liberal than the rest of Appalachia, and otherwise traditionally True Blue.
 
Just so we don't risk this getting moved to Political Chat, let's ask an alternate history question: How do we get West Virginia to NOT go solid red? Obviously, as we've discussed, it's a Republican state because the coal industry is big and the Democrats are anti-coal. Which would be easier: (a) diversifying West Virginia's economy to the point where the health of the coal industry is not the one overriding issue or (b) creating a party system in which the Democrats are NOT seen as the party of anti-fossil fuel environmentalism? What sorts of PODs would we need for either scenario?
 
Well, infrastructure and transport are very limiting for WV. Even the Interstates are winding and travel slow. The terrain limits growth (so few places to build! They had to level a mountain top to put in an airport at Charleston). Diversifying the economy is a challenge. More investment in university research might bring STEM to WV, or perhaps more business-attractive policies, but it'll be hard to compete with VA, MD, and PA and their existing infrastructure for all of that.

Maybe having the pro-union wing of the Dems trump the Greens.

Maybe have wind power become bigger earlier drive an early green investment economy.
 
Just so we don't risk this getting moved to Political Chat, let's ask an alternate history question: How do we get West Virginia to NOT go solid red? Obviously, as we've discussed, it's a Republican state because the coal industry is big and the Democrats are anti-coal. Which would be easier: (a) diversifying West Virginia's economy to the point where the health of the coal industry is not the one overriding issue or (b) creating a party system in which the Democrats are NOT seen as the party of anti-fossil fuel environmentalism? What sorts of PODs would we need for either scenario?

I prefer option A because that has better effects for the economy as whole. The fact of the matter is that coal supplies are dwindling even quicker than oil (and yes, I do realize we aren't going to run out of either of them by tomorrow, but supplies are still shrinking). I think WV is simply better off unchaining its economy from a dying industry, though I admit there isn't an easy way to do this (if there was, it would have been done already).

Also, from a purely cold-blooded political perspective, the Democrats probably get more votes from environmentalists than they lose from WV coal workers, so Option A really is the best choice.
 
Crazy idea: stealing an idea from another thread circling this forum, Khomeini decides that antagonizing one of the world's superpowers right from square one is a poor long-term strategy and releases the hostages immediately. No hostage crisis and botched rescue attempt. Carter manages to win reelection in '80. Among his policies is a big push for renewable energy research. Realizing he's alienating coal-country Dems, he comes up with a TVA-type thing for wind energy investment in the mountains, including grants for green energy research. Huntington, WV, in particular becomes a major hub for green energy research. By 1990 WV has a growing wind energy and green energy R&D factor to its economy (silicon holler?) and becomes a magnet for environmental engineering startups. The big coal companies start to see $$ potential and diversify into renewable energy. By 2000 there's enough of a green technology base in the state, with old coal miners finding new work installing turbines and advising/training Chinese lithium miners, that coal is no longer the linchpin of the economy. WV stays Blue. PA's up-country stays Blue, making PA less of a swing state than OTL. Even eastern KY and TN and up-country NC are more purple than OTL. The GOP starts to shift in policy towards renewable energy as "national defense strategy and economic driver" as campaign funds from the Green Economy roll in and the old hat that Green=/=Economy gets shown to be a fallacy.

Thoughts?
 
Top