By Jean A. Flanagan
Moorefield Examiner
MATHIAS, W.Va. — It may be a first for West Virginia. A Mathias husband and wife team will both throw their hats into the ring for public office.
Matthew and Tonya Persinger are seeking a seat in the West Virginia State Senate and West Virginia House of Delegates respectively. They will register with the West Virginia Secretary of State as Libertarians.
Matthew, who is a machinist, a full-time college student and has his own solar panel business, said he’s been a Libertarian all his adult life.
“We met John Buckley at the Mathias fair and we wanted to help keep the party in the forefront of peoples’ minds,” Matt said.
Buckley is secretary of the Libertarian Party of West Virginia and ran for governor in 2012.
The Persingers said they were tired of political business as usual and wanted to give voters another choice on the ballot besides Democrat and Republican.
“The major parties don’t speak for us anymore,” Tonya said.
“We’re steadily losing our liberties in this country and our state economy is in dire shape,” Matt said.
The Libertarian State Convention will be held in May, during which, candidates to represent the party on the November ballot will be chosen.
The Libertarian, Mountain, Democrat and Republican are the only political parties recognized by the state of West Virginia.
Editor’s Note: With a population of slightly more than 14,000, Hardy County has produced three Libertarian candidates for public office in the past two years. In 2014, John Buckley was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. He intends to seek the office of Secretary of State as a Libertarian in this year’s election.
