Staff and Wire report
Spirit of Jefferson
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — Republican Alex Mooney has a contender within his party eyeing his seat in Congress.
Pharmacist Ken Reed opened a pre-candidacy account this month to run for Mooney’s Second District House seat.
Reed came in second to Mooney last year in a seven-way Republican primary. He lost by about 4,800 votes, or about 14 percent.
Reed used a Berkeley Springs address in his 2014 election bid. This time, he has an address across the state in Charleston.
Reed raised $572,500 in his 2014 bid, with $525,000 of that money from a self-loan.
Mooney, who moved to the Eastern Panhandle in 2013 after a stint as state GOP chairman in Maryland, defeated Democrat Nick Casey by about 5,000 votes in the general election, or a margin of about 3 percent.
Mooney, who rents a home in Charles Town, had almost $115,000 in his campaign account at the end of March.