- Nearly a month ago, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced he wouldn't run for reelection in 2024.
- Now, Zach Shrewsbury is the only declared Democrat running to represent West Virginia in the Senate.
- "When I do politics, I do it rather aggressively," he said. "I don't really beat around the bush."
As West Virginia, once a longtime Democratic stronghold, continues its abrupt flip to the right, a self-described socialist is hoping he can be the one to succeed centrist Sen. Joe Manchin.
When he declared his congressional campaign in October, Zach Shrewsbury, a five-year veteran of the Marine Corps, ran thinking Manchin likely wouldn't run for reelection. His predictions were accurate, putting a spotlight on Shrewsbury's campaign earlier than expected.
Shrewsbury spoke to Business Insider on Wednesday morning to discuss the Senate race, his approach to campaigning, and why he's unafraid to go against Democratic Party norms.
How does a Democrat not named Joe Manchin win a Senate seat in West Virginia in 2024?
For the longest time, West Virginians haven't really had an option outside of Joe Manchin or a Republican very similar to him. Given myself, I'm very different than your run-of-the-mill moderate Democrat that they usually pick up.
My messaging is very working class and that comes across party lines. Even the most hard-line Republican will have to recognize that out of everyone running in this race, I'm the only one that can actually identify with working people in West Virginia. I am from the same cloth as everybody; I am the working West Virginian.
You know, I've struggled like everyone else, and no one else in this race can truly say the same. So I believe that will really push us forward, push us across the line there. Really, it's just going door to door with a really large ground operation, getting that message out there saying we actually have someone, for the first time in a long time, that will fight for you, not for DC or a corporate interest.
How do you differentiate yourself between you and any other Democrat?
I don't really toe the party line, so to speak. I'm very open with my thoughts. I was pro-ceasefire from the very beginning. I'm probably more far left than a lot of the Democrats are, and I'm very open about it.
I don't try to really hide or anything or dodge any of the questions. It's one of those things where I'm very upfront on my beliefs and when I do politics, I do it rather aggressively. I don't really beat around the bush.
Do you think that being so much more openly to the left of Manchin or Gov. Jim Justice makes this more of an uphill battle for you?
I don't believe so.
I think people would admire a genuine person more, so to speak. Bernie Sanders, for instance, did very well in West Virginia. You can even ask anyone who supports Trump, most of the responses would be, "Well, I don't know about his views, but Bernie was a genuine person. I know where he stands."
In West Virginia that matters heavily, knowing where someone stands. Most of the time our politicians, you don't know where they stand. You never know what they actually believe in because Republicans usually just use fearmongering tactics and don't actually give policy points, and then Democrats dance around their policy.
So really just being fully open about it… I believe just being a genuine person at the end of the day will help me.
Outside of Sen. Sanders, are there any senators or other campaigns that you are trying to model your campaign after?
I'm very much trying to do this in a whole different way — I'm not really modeling this after any campaign, so to speak.
There's a few influences, you could say Bernie Sanders, you could say a little bit of Stephen Smith, he ran for governor in West Virginia. But ultimately 98% of it is ourselves, my team.
Going back a little bit to Senator Sanders, I've seen some people in the press label you as a "socialist." Is that a label that you would agree with?
Yeah, I can identify with that label. I think it's an overused attack label that American politicians use too much and oftentimes Democrats dance around it.
I've had my beliefs for years, the label doesn't bother me at all.
I read you grew up in a Republican family. Can you kind of walk me through how that experience shaped the way you view politics now and what led you to the Democratic party?
Really it's when I joined the Marine Corps and experienced a lot of places across the country, different areas of the world. It really kind of opened me up to more beliefs and I was able to start sharing that very heavily.
Occupy Wall Street was the first thing I started reading very heavily in the Marine Corps when I was in, and that's what really got me wanting to learn more about it. That's kind of where it went.
How it shaped me growing up Republican, I don't know, it's kind of a hard question to answer. We were just a regular family. I mean, really I didn't get political until I joined the Marines.
What was the reaction when Sen. Manchin made his decision not to run, and how has that affected your operation?
It didn't really affect our operation at all — we just sped things up. We were pretty positive he wasn't going to run in the first place. Now we didn't know when he was going to announce that — that did catch us by surprise — but the response to that was fantastic.
We were prepared, and you know, we started rolling out the gate with our plan. We've been moving a hundred miles an hour ever since.