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 Ace’s Platform

AFFORDABILITY

Making sure West Virginians can afford to live, work, and stay.

Affordability has three interconnected dimensions: a just transition for workers left behind by economic policies, lower prices on food and other key items families  need to live, and the infrastructure investments that communities desperately need.

  • Across America, coal miners and manufacturing workers have been left behind by failed trade policies. Economic transitions have created real pain for real people - especially in Appalachia.

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    Investors and executives seem to do just fine—the people and communities don’t. We will not abandon those communities or their workers.

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    For every $1 in wages lost when a factory closes or a mine shuts down, we will advocate to invest $2 back into that community.

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    Communities—not corporations, not Washington—should decide how this investment is used. Through a local vote, residents can choose how funds are allocated, such as in

    • Bringing in new businesses

    • Job training for workers

    • Roads, broadband, and infrastructure

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    Because no community should be left behind.

  • Working-class people should not have to be buried in paperwork to get the benefits they deserve or to be priced out of the things they need to live. We will act across four fronts:

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    Increase Supply – High options, low prices promise.

    • Housing: Tax incentives and zoning reform to build more housing so West Virginians can afford to stay in West Virginia

    • Universal Childcare: Grants to qualified facilities, scaled to performance, and tax breaks for parents to fund their childcare choices

    • Education: Increase Title I funds for at-risk rural schools; fund community colleges and trade schools and redirect lost funds for vouchers back into public schools

    • Healthcare: Fund rural hospitals; pursue a single-payer public option

    • Food: Cut tariffs driving up prices on coffee, beef, OJ, and other groceries; invest in small farms

    • Energy: Diversify supply through wind, solar, and other sources to drive down heating bills

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    Dignity Investments – People shouldn’t beg for the right to live.

    • Reverse Big Beautiful Bill cuts to SNAP and Medicaid

    • Raise the minimum wage to a living wage

    • Increase housing vouchers, SNAP allocations, and energy assistance programs like LEAP

    • Increase public interest loan forgiveness and student support for public service careers

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    Eliminate Benefit Cliffs – End cruel and costly government policies. 

    The moment you get a raise should not be the moment you lose your benefits. We will redesign benefit structures so they reward work, not punish it:

    • Smooth SNAP, Medicaid, childcare, and housing subsidy offramps as incomes rise

    • Extend support to middle-class families who sit just above current thresholds

    • Expand hours and accessibility to service sectors so no family should have to choose between going to work and visiting the DHHR office

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    Rein in Corporate Power and Waste – Let’s hold corporations accountable for a change. 

    • Hold developers, for-profit schools, for-profit healthcare companies, and for-profit childcare facilities accountable for results and waste

    • Cut fossil fuel subsidies for companies that have wasted public resources and invest them in Appalachian energy sectors that have been good stewards of public investments. 

    • Hold national corporations in senior care accountable for care quality

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    West Virginian’s deserve better government benefits systems

  • West Virginia cannot attract new workers, new businesses, or a new generation of families without the foundational infrastructure that makes communities liveable. These are not luxuries — they are government responsibilities we are failing to meet.

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    • Broadband: Universal access as a public utility — the 21st-century road

    • Roads and transportation: Maintain and expand the physical arteries of commerce and community

    • Education: Modernize school buildings; strengthen educator resources in rural and under-resourced areas

    • Healthcare access: Fund rural hospitals and ensure healthcare infrastructure matches community need, not corporate profitability

CARE

Caring for our people. Caring for our land.

In West Virginia, we care about each other. That is our identity and our strength. Government should reflect that — investing in the people who care for our communities and in the land that defines who we are.

Read Ace’s Blog on the America’s Healthcare system

  • A few years ago, the opioid epidemic was front and center in people’s minds across the country. Somehow when the cameras turned off, politicians assumed the pain had as well. It hasn’t and we will focus on taking the fight back to this epidemic that has directly or indirectly affected every person in West Virginia. 


    Science-Based, Human-Centered Addiction Recovery
    Addiction isn’t a moral failing or a decision--it’s disease that grips the human brain and refuses to let go. We must first reclaim funds that our communities used to fight addiction—especially Medicaid—and then invest those funds in programs that are based in evidence, not profit and half-baked whims. 


    Invest in Addiction Frontline Workers
    Loneliness and lack of support are to addiction what gasoline is to fire. We need to fund social workers and resources to help people recovering a sense of community and support. 


    Accountability for Addiction Perpetrators
    Why is it that we incarcerate drug dealers, but the Sacklers and the uber wealthy that made fortunes on people’s pain are still living in their mansions. Appalachia and America never held the perpetrators—people and companies—that drove us to this pit publicly accountability. I will advocate for the public accountability. 

  • Teachers, nurses, social workers, and public safety professionals are the connective tissue of our communities. We have made them our enemies. It is time to make them our partners and help the people they serve.

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    Free College for Service Professions

    We will eliminate tuition for students who commit to careers as educators, nurses, social workers, or public safety professionals. This is an investment in West Virginia's civic infrastructure — the people who hold communities together.

    • Full tuition forgiveness for education, nursing, social work, and public safety degrees at public institutions, tied to years of in-state service

    • Strengthen and expand existing public service loan forgiveness programs and make them easier to access.

    • Expand AmeriCorps and similar national service pathways as entry points to these careers

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    Higher Wages and Recognition

    • Raise wages for teachers, nurses, social workers, and public safety professionals — including competitive pay that reflects the irreplaceable value of their work

    • Pay professionals in these sectors who earn strong community reviews more and promote the best to leadership

    • Give nurses time to be with patients — not buried in paperwork on behalf of corporate billing departments

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    Housing Support for Essential Workers

    • Housing subsidies and down payment assistance for teachers, nurses, social workers, and public safety professionals who commit to underserved communities

    • Partner with local governments to develop workforce housing near schools, hospitals, and community service centers

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    Community Policing and Public Safety

    • Defund ICE and reinvest the funds in community policing models that build trust between officers and the communities they serve

    • Support law enforcement professionalism while ensuring accountability structures that reflect community values

    • Treat our law enforcement officers as partners — not budget items to cut or political props to exploit

  • West Virginia is, inch for inch, the most beautiful place in the country. That beauty is not a backdrop — it is an economic asset, a cultural identity, and a birthright. It is under attack, and I will fight to protect it.

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    Clean and Safe Drinking Water

    If you open the tap in communities 30 minutes from my house, you see orange water. This is a statewide crisis and a government failure. I will treat it as one.

    • Dedicated federal investment in replacing failing water infrastructure across West Virginia

    • Hold polluters accountable through enforcement and restoration funding

    • Ensure rural and low-income communities have equal access to clean water — not just communities that can afford to fight for it

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    State and National Parks and Public Lands

    • Invest in state and national park infrastructure — trails, facilities, and visitor access — as economic development, not just conservation

    • Fight against privatization and corporate exploitation of public lands

    • Invest in the outdoor tourism economy as a pillar of long-term economic health

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    Clean Air and Environmental Health

    • Hold out-of-state polluters accountable — West Virginia's air and water should not be a dumping ground for companies that profit elsewhere

    • Strengthen environmental health monitoring in communities with documented exposure histories

EMPOWERMENT

Montani Semper Liberi. Mountaineers are always free.

Empowerment means that power flows to the people — not to corporations, not to the wealthy, not to unaccountable executives. Five dimensions define this agenda: community control, worker power, human rights, transparent government, and a democracy where every vote counts.

  • I will be the most accessible, transparent, and accountable representative this district has ever had.

    • Ban paid lobbying after leaving elected office — the revolving door between government and corporate influence peddling must stop

    • Mandate that all elected officials divest any financial interests that relate to their legislative responsibilities

    • Have full transparency in campaign fundraising — including disclosure of super PAC donors — and advocacy for ending Citizens United protections that give people speech powers to corporations. 

    • Commit to 20+ town halls per year across the district — not occasional fundraisers, but genuine open accountability sessions

    • No public funds used for self-promotional mailers or political communications — a practice that has gone unchallenged for too long

    Ace’s Moral Monday

  • For too long, decisions about our communities have been made without the people who live in them. It’s time to put power back where it belongs — in the hands of constituents.

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    • Ensure meaningful community input in local and federal decision-making — not just symbolic hearings, but real influence over policies that shape daily life

    • Expand participatory budgeting and community-led planning so residents have a direct say in how public funds are spent

    • Increase transparency and accountability — constituents deserve clear, accessible information and honest engagement from their representatives

    • Protect and elevate the voices of historically underrepresented communities, ensuring everyone has a seat at the table in shaping our shared future"

  • For decades, corporations have systematically dismantled the tools workers have to negotiate fair wages and safe conditions. We will rebuild those tools.

    • End right-to-work laws that undermine collective bargaining

    • Strengthen and simplify the right to organize — workers should be able to form a union without fear of retaliation or a multi-year legal battle

    • Strengthen NLRB enforcement and increase penalties for employers who illegally interfere with organizing

    • Guarantee protections for workers who speak out about unsafe conditions — particularly in extraction, agriculture, and healthcare

  • We must ask how a society built on individual freedom gave more human freedom to a corporation than those entrusted to We the People. Once we answer that question, let’s do something about it!

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    Women’s Right

    • Protect the right to make personal healthcare decisions 

    • Address the disproportionate economic and caregiving burdens women carry 

    • Expand access to education, job training, and higher-paying careers 

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    Children’s Rights

    • Every child deserves safety, stability, and a real chance to succeed 

    • Expand access to early childhood education, healthcare, and nutrition 

    • Strengthen protections against abuse and neglect 

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    Veterans’ Rights

    1. Ensure timely access to high-quality healthcare, including mental health and addiction services 

    2. Support job training, housing stability, and transition to civilian employment 

    3. Reduce bureaucratic barriers within the VA system 

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    Disability Rights

    1. Make West Virginia fully accessible — physically, economically, and socially 

    2. Expand employment opportunities and enforce fair wage protections 

    3. Simplify access to services so people can live independently with dignity 

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    LGBTQ+ Rights

    1. Protect individuals from discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and education 

    2. Ensure every West Virginian can live safely and openly in their community 

    3. Promote a culture of respect rooted in basic fairness 

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    Gun Owners’ Rights

    1. Respect the rights of responsible gun owners 

    2. Protect lawful ownership while promoting responsible use and community safety 

    3. Focus enforcement on illegal activity, not law-abiding citizens

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    Human Rights 

    1. Relaunch and revamp foreign aid cuts by Elon Musk that killed millions of people and ceded America’s international leadership to countries like China.

    2. Support policies that promote stability, economic opportunity, and human rights worldwide. 

    3. Lead with values, partnership, and accountability that treat every human being as if they are created in the image of God and have infinite worth. 

  • With gerrymandered districts, elected officials have more choice in picking their voters than voters have in picking their officials. That is not democracy. We will fix it.

    • Automatic voter registration for all eligible citizens — participation should be the default, not the obstacle

    • Restore and expand voting rights for all eligible citizens, including those formerly incarcerated who have paid their debt to society

    • Ranked-choice voting — giving voters more choices and ensuring winners have genuine majority support

    • Non-partisan redistricting — maps drawn to reflect communities, not to entrench incumbents

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" The American Dream Was Never a Solo Act. I didn't get here alone. Neither did you. Let's rise together
 - not because it's easy, but because that's who West Virginians are. "  

~ Ace Parsi

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