MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—He’s a 32-year-old Marine Corps veteran known across West Virginia’s hills and valleys as a volunteer who digs ditches in flooded towns, who distributes coats to the homeless, who speaks about disenfranchisement of working people and despoilment of rivers by elected representatives beholden to corporate interests.
That’s the only way, one-by-one, doorstep-by-doorstep, day-by-day, a Democrat who openly identifies as a socialist can win any office in deep red West Virginia, and that’s the way Zach Shrewsbury says he’ll pull off one of 2024’s biggest electoral upsets when he defeats a heavily favored Republican—either Gov. Jim Justice or Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.)—to succeed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in the U.S. Senate.
