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Interestingly enough, WV used to be a safe blue state for most of the state's history. Literally Gore ruined that.
Because they weren't blue due to progressive social policy, they were blue because of the unions. Gore went after the biggest union industries in the state, and no Dem since has thought how to fix it.
Of all people, Bernie did really well in the 2016 primary, but since Clinton got ~35% compared to Bernie's ~53% she of course got a majority of our state's delegates (by one).
If you wanted to get a Dem to poll well here, you'd have to drop the gun stuff almost entirely (a lot of rural folks and a lot of hunters, a lot of woods full of wild animals [and those woods are directly adjacent to most populated areas - the entire state is forested mountains], etc), not lead with the progressive social justice stuff (not denounce it, not ignore it, just not treat it as the top priority and focus of your message - it's there but it's not what you're selling yourself on), and then double down on working class concerns (this should be what you lead with and emphasize). Think something adjacent to social populism.
That's really interesting, I was not aware. Do you have anything more I could read on this? Wikipedia suggests that the change might be due to Gore's focus on climate when so many people there make a living from coal, that sounds plausible as well.
Literally same thing. The largest exports for WV are coal, timber and natural gas.
WV had been consistently blue for most of state history, and the reasons for that were very much tied up in the labor movement, especially as regards unionizing coal mines. Support for Democrats in WV extended outward from the unions, especially the mine unions. And WV put up with some positions it broadly wasn't fond of from Dems because of the unions (like the gun stuff).
Gore's "focus on climate" was the start of the Dems being actively hostile to coal, and to a lesser extent natural gas and timber. It's hard to keep most of your support coming from the union when you're attacking the industry the union represents.
Hillary Clinton at least came up with an alternative plan but it both wasn't very good and was sold in about the worst way possible. "I'm going to put a bunch of coal companies and coal miners out of business" was the single most heard Hillary Clinton quote in WV leading up to the election - it was at the heart of every ad for every GOP politician from Trump all the way down ballot. She did worse in the general here than she did in the primary, and she only got 35% in the primary, narrowly winning the state over Bernie Sanders at 53%.