Paula Jean Swearengin is using her stances on progressive issues, her popularity from a role in a Netflix movie and the hard realities of a life spent in the Southern West Virginia coalfields to try to snap Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s two-decade streak in political office.

Capito has leaned hard on her record leading up to the Nov. 3 election as she tries to become the first West Virginia Republican re-elected to the U.S. Senate in more than a century. And she hopes to ride the overwhelming popularity of President Donald Trump in the state from the 2016 election.

Standing in her way is Swearengin, a Democrat who is backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and supports proposals for a government-run health care system known as “Medicare for All” and the “Green New Deal” environmental reforms that would combat climate change.

The last U.S. Senate race in West Virginia was one of the most-watched contests in the country.

While conservative Democratic senators in Indiana and North Dakota lost, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., won a second full-term by defeating state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, all the while enduring attacks from President Donald Trump.

This year’s Senate race in West Virginia is much different. Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is seeking a second term, but she does not face the same obstacles her Democratic colleague did two years ago. Political analysts forecast the race in Capito’s favor.

A “good contrast of beliefs” is how Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito described the differing views of her and her opponent Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin.

Both candidates for the U.S. Senate joined The Dominion Post’s editorial board via video conferencing for an interview last week.

Capito, the daughter of former Gov. Arch Moore, was elected to the Senate in 2015. Before that, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for four years. During her time in the Senate, Capito said she has focused on issues that affect West Virginians, such as getting money for the opioid crisis and expanding broadband access in the state.

Paula Jean Swearengin is using her stances on progressive issues, her popularity from a role in a Netflix movie and the hard realities of a life spent in the Southern West Virginia coalfields to try to snap Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s two-decade streak in political office.

Capito has leaned hard on her record leading up to the Nov. 3 election as she tries to become the first West Virginia Republican re-elected to the U.S. Senate in more than a century. And she hopes to ride the overwhelming popularity of President Donald Trump in the state from the 2016 election.

Standing in her way is Swearengin, a Democrat who is backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and supports proposals for a government-run health care system known as “Medicare for All” and the “Green New Deal” environmental reforms that would combat climate change.

The last U.S. Senate race in West Virginia was one of the most-watched contests in the country.

While conservative Democratic senators in Indiana and North Dakota lost, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., won a second full-term by defeating state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, all the while enduring attacks from President Donald Trump.

This year’s Senate race in West Virginia is much different. Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is seeking a second term, but she does not face the same obstacles her Democratic colleague did two years ago. Political analysts forecast the race in Capito’s favor.

A “good contrast of beliefs” is how Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito described the differing views of her and her opponent Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin.

Both candidates for the U.S. Senate joined The Dominion Post’s editorial board via video conferencing for an interview last week.

Capito, the daughter of former Gov. Arch Moore, was elected to the Senate in 2015. Before that, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for four years. During her time in the Senate, Capito said she has focused on issues that affect West Virginians, such as getting money for the opioid crisis and expanding broadband access in the state.