Raleigh County Deserves Better Than Decline and Distractions

By Greg Thomas, Executive Director, West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse

Since 2014, 47 of West Virginia's 55 counties have lost population. Raleigh County's share of that loss is staggering: nearly 7,000 residents gone, the second-highest raw population decline of any county in the state — trailing only Kanawha County, which is three times our size. Over that same stretch, Raleigh County shed somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 jobs.

Those numbers should stop every one of us in our tracks. Raleigh County sits at the crossroads of southern West Virginia. With Beckley as its hub, this county should be the region's economic anchor — a place people move to, not away from. Instead, we have watched a decade of decline unfold on the watch of the very officials now asking us for another term.

State Senator Rollan Roberts is one of them. In his time in Charleston, Senator Roberts has had every opportunity to make economic development, job creation, and diversifying our county's economy his top priority. Instead, his legislative record shows a senator far more animated by social and cultural fights than by the hard, unglamorous work of bringing jobs and investment back to southern West Virginia. Southern West Virginia voters deserve to ask a simple question: what has he actually done to reverse the job losses and population flight happening under his nose?

There is another piece of this picture that Raleigh County residents should know. Senator Roberts' campaign is now funded heavily by Democrats — including personal injury lawyers who have poured more than $20,000 into his campaign. (Insert Click here hyper link to this page WVCALA Releases 2026 Dirty Dozen Ahead of Primary Election) That is a striking fact for a Republican incumbent, and it is not a coincidence. Personal injury trial lawyers have a direct financial stake in reversing West Virginia's lawsuit climate that has been greatly improved over the last decade, because a friendlier legal climate for businesses means fewer opportunities for them to extract large settlements and fees. Every dollar they spend electing a legislator is a dollar spent protecting a system that drives up costs for small businesses, employers, and the doctors and manufacturers who might otherwise be creating jobs right here in Raleigh County.

Our organization, West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, exists because lawsuit abuse has real costs: higher insurance premiums, fewer employers willing to locate or expand here, and a legal climate that scares away the very investment southern West Virginia needs to reverse its population and job losses. A state senator who takes tens of thousands of dollars from the trial bar is a senator with a conflict of interest every time legal reform comes up for a vote — reform that could make our county more attractive to the employers we desperately need.

Raleigh County did not lose 7,000 residents and thousands of jobs by accident. It happened because, for a decade, the people representing us in Charleston have not made our economy the emergency it actually is. Voters in this county have a right to demand a legislator who is laser-focused on jobs, growth, and a legal climate that welcomes employers instead of scaring them off — not one who is bankrolled by the same trial lawyers who profit from the status quo.

Before you vote, look at the record. Look at the population numbers. Look at the job losses. And look at who is funding this campaign, and why. Raleigh County cannot afford four more years of decline dressed up as leadership.