MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — State Senator Bob Beach is challenging incumbent Republican Monongalia County Commissioner Sean Sikora for a commission seat in Tuesday’s election.
Beach has served more than 20 years in the legislature. Beach said campaigning for county commission has been a grass roots mission for his campaign.
“We stepped up and shared our message,” Beach said. “Old school politics always rule in my opinion- getting out and going to different events, meeting folks, shaking hands and have a nice smile. We just keep pushing our message on social media and wherever we could be heard.”
For Sikora, the campaign has really been a replay of the first term of service.
“Just how much we’ve accomplished in the past six years has really given me a sense of pride in what we’ve done,” Sikora said. “Regardless of how Tuesday goes, I’ve really done what I set out to do six years ago.”
If elected, Beach said he’ll take a “whole county” approach to identifying and solving problems.
“Include the western end, the eastern end, southern end and whatever it is in trying to meet their needs,” Beach said. ” We know we need broadband, we know we need cell phone service across this county and we need to address those issues quickly, but we need to work together.”
Sikora has already told voters he wants to complete initiatives currently underway like broadband expansion, economic development and the Harmony Grove interchange off I-79. With that in mind, Sikora plans to campaign until the polls close, then go to Monongalia County Election Headquarters to certify the preliminary election results.
“There’s a good percentage of votes that will still be made on Tuesday,” Sikora said. “So, I’m going full-bore campaigning until the polls close.”