Secretary of State Mac Warner believes his background in military service and his nearly eight years in office makes him the best candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of West Virginia. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

EDITORS NOTE: This is part three in a four-part series of public policy interviews with the top four Republican candidates for governor of West Virginia. Listen to the full interviews by subscribing to the Mountain State Views podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most major podcast platform.
***
CHARLESTON — Secretary of State Mac Warner is used to solving complex problems as a military officer, an adviser to the former Afghanistan government, or as West Virginia’s chief elections officer.
Now Warner wants to use his expertise to solve the state’s pressing issues as its next governor.
“I predict a great future for West Virginia, and I just want to be part of building it and continuing the successes,” Warner said. “I have a military background, and one of the things they teach is to exploit your successes … that’s what we need to do here in the state. We need to exploit the successes that we’ve had and look for other opportunities.”
Warner announced his candidacy for governor of West Virginia in January in front of the West Virginia Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the State Capitol Complex. Since then, Warner has launched coalitions of veterans, women, and supporters of 2nd Amendment rights who all agree that Warner is the right person to lead West Virginia.
Wrapping up his second term as West Virginia’s 30th Secretary of State, Warner serves as the state’s chief elections officer and the state registrar of businesses. He was first elected in 2017 after defeating former Democratic Secretary of State Natalie Tennant by just 1.7% of the vote. When Tennant challenged Warner again in 2020, Warner won with more than 16% of the vote.
Warner served 23 years as a U.S. Army officer, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the West Virginia University College of Law. He served most of his military service in the Army’ Judge Advocate General Corps in multiple posts, including the International Court of Justice at the Hague and as Chief of International Law for the U.S. Army in Europe.
Upon retirement, Warner worked for five years as a contractor with the U.S. State Department in Afghanistan. As Chief of the Organizational Capacity Building Section, Warner helped advise the Afghan government as it tried to organize following the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Warner and his team worked with helping organize Afghan Supreme Court, Attorney General’s office, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
Since taking office, Warner has focused on modernizing the office by moving most of its business services online, building a new website, creating hubs and the One Stop Business Center for citizens wishing to create new businesses to access multiple state agencies. Warner has worked with county clerks to help them clean up voter registration rolls; engaged in new voter registration efforts; added voting options; investigated voter fraud; and worked on making state elections secure from cyber-attacks and foreign actors.
Warner wants to continue the successes of outgoing Republican Gov. Jim Justice and the Republican-led legislative supermajority, but he believes a lifetime of experience in the military and in government have set himself up for success as the state’s next chief executive.
“That’s where I think I have an advantage over the other candidates in the race; that wealth of experience I bring to the office,” Warner said. “I’ve served overseas on four continents. I’ve seen successes and I’ve seen failures across the globe. I’m bringing that expertise here … I’m bringing that wealth of experience to the table to put that forth for the people of West Virginia.”
Warner acknowledged that the state still has a number of challenges, including its high poverty rates among adults and children. Warner said there is no silver bullet to reversing these numbers and that solution will have to be tailored for the needs of different regions of the state, but working on economic development across the state can make a difference in giving people opportunities to earn higher wages and pull themselves out of poverty.
“You have to take a holistic approach to this,” Warner said. “One of the answers is a good job solves a lot of the ills of society. We need to ensure we are attracting good jobs to the state.”
Warner said a hindrance to West Virginia growing economically are the actions and regulations by the administration of President Joe Biden. In his administration, Warner said he would take an aggressive approach, challenging any federal regulation that would slow economic growth in the state.
“Now we are in the competitive market among other states to being able to attract businesses to come here. We need to continue along that line,” Warner said. “Don’t have government picking winners or losers. Get the government out of the way. Part of my objective as governor is to push back against the overreach by Washington, D.C., when the federal government comes in. It can be from overregulating where they say you can’t build that pipeline or drill that well or subsidizing certain businesses.”
West Virginia has ended the last several fiscal years with record-breaking tax surpluses, including a $1.8 billion surplus at the end of fiscal year 2023 in June. These surpluses are based on general revenue fund estimates set low, keeping the base budget from growing but not accurately reflecting the tax revenue state officials expect to bring in each fiscal year according to unofficial revenue estimates they cite.
Warner said the state needs to be prepared for a possible revenue downturn once several federal spending bills run their course. He said the budget always needs based on what the state believes it will bring in, not set artificially low.
“I really am worried … as to what we’re being left with. But you take the cards as they are dealt, so we have to take it and make the best of a bad situation,” Warner said. “You should be doing the best you can to project the income and always spending to that and we’ll deal with a surplus or deficit after that.”
If the state is bringing in more in tax revenue, Warner said that funding needs to be used to fund important emergency and law enforcement services, such as local fire departments, emergency medical services, and correctional officers and staff. While Justice and lawmakers worked on some of these issues during an August special session, Warner said addressing these issues long-term is a priority of his.
“There are certain things that the government needs to take care of, such as infrastructure, roads, EMS, fire departments — basic things we need to secure for the people of our state, those are things the government should be doing primary before we start addressing other things,” Warner said. “You have to open up the code and say this is what government is responsible for, here is what the governor’s obligations are, and we’ll tackle those things first and then deal with surpluses or deficits.”
West Virginia is suffering from shortages in correctional officers, child protective service workers, certified teachers, and more. Warner wants to leverage more technology to pick up the slack in state government, then use the savings to retain and recruit experienced employees to work in state government and be able to provide better pay for those positions. Warner also sees the need for locality pay for state employees in parts of West Virginia with the highest number of shortages.
“I’m going to entice the people that are here (in state government) to stay here, draw people to the state, and address locality pay,” Warner said. “We have to address reality, and that is if that is what it takes to maintain those people, we need to look at the locality pay.”
Warner applauded recent efforts by the Legislature to focus on helping children reach educational attainment of reading, writing, and math by third grade. As a former teacher himself while in the Army, Warner said he understands what teachers have to do to put together curriculum, lesson plans, and being in front of students.
But Warner raised concerns about a number of culture war issues making headlines across the country, such as the banning of certain books from school libraries that some deem inappropriate for students; or the way that some schools across the nation teach certain subjects, such as race or sex.
“When you have that student in front of you, you need to be focused on the very basics that student needs to get them so they can have an education,” Warner said. “That’s going to be my focus as governor to make sure the education system is going in the right direction, and to make sure parents have input and control over what those students are learning and what they are reading. We need to be careful about what is going into the schools with regard to books and agendas; this woke agenda that we’re going down.”
When it comes to the state substance use disorder crisis, Warner believes more pressure needs to be put on the Biden administration to focus on the manufacture of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids by China, which are then shipped to Mexico and smuggled into the U.S. across border points of entry.
“When approaching a combat scenario, you want to start weakening that enemy as far away as possible,” Warner said. “We need to be stopping this over in China. I’m talking embargoes and trade deals and so forth that can stop them from one, making it, and two, transporting it … This is something outside of the state’s ability to do, but we need to work with the federal government and support those in federal government who take this seriously and are trying to tackle it.”
Warner applauded Justice’s decision over the summer to send members of the West Virginia National Guard to the southern border at the request of Texas. Harkening back to the creation of the Army from local militias during the Revolutionary War, Warner said it makes sense for state National Guards to help assist at the border. Warner said the federal government needs to provide more assistance to Mexico to police the border on their side.
“That’s what I think we’re doing when we send National Guard down to the border; we’re showing unity with other states to say we take this as seriously as you do, this drug and illegal immigration problem,” Warner said.
Warner called for increased criminal penalties for trafficking fentanyl and other power synthetic opioids. He also called for increased funding for treatment and mental health while limiting access to avoid drawing in those with substance use disorder problems from other states.
When it comes to West Virginia’s energy future, Warner calls for a hands-off approach, letting the free market decide the best approach to energy production. But Warner believes that coal and natural gas will remain part of the state and nation’s baseload energy supply for the foreseeable future.
“The past is prologue. Those have served us well in the past. They can serve us well in the future,” Warner said. “If you have an issue with carbon emissions and so forth, let’s innovate and let’s find the ways – through carbon capture, carbon sequestration, and those types of things – to reduce the amount of carbon. We all want a clean environment.”
When it comes to drawing people back to West Virginia and bringing new people to the state, Warner believes creating economic growth and new well-paying job opportunities can overcome some of the more controversial culture war issues that some cite as their reason for leaving the state.
“It’s the economy, it’s business, it’s jobs, pay structures, and all those sorts of things,” Warner said. “If we get that combination correct, we’re going to attract those people.”
Warner said broadband expansion is key to drawing people to the state and being able to do remote work or allow businesses to better participate in the global economy. With the state’s outdoor beauty and recreation opportunities, Warner believes West Virginia can capitalize on attracting young adult workers and overcome any negative perceptions about the state’s politics.
“We’ve got the lifestyle that people want,” Warner said. “They want that rural home feel, where people are nice to them, say hello when they walk down the street. That sort of thing. We’re attractive in that area. We’re a state of immigrants; our state is made up of people who immigrated here. We’re welcoming to the outsider.”
As he campaigns across the state, Warner hopes primary voters will take a look at his background in the military, his foreign service, and his nearly eight years as Secretary of State and see he is the right candidate to help West Virginia build a brighter future.
“The best way to predict the future is to build it. We build that future we all want by working with our state Legislature and the citizens of West Virginia,” Warner said. “What we’ve accomplished in the Secretary of State’s Office is what I want to take across state government to the other agencies and solve those problems so that all of West Virginia is getting the government they deserve, that is responsive, that is transparent, and is solving their problems.
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at [email protected]