United States Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, represents West Virginia, my neighboring state. (I live in Virginia.) I recently spoke with her via video about the upcoming election, her life in politics, and how she is inspiring girls to
In 2014, Capito became the first woman elected to represent West Virginia in the Senate. Senators serve a six-year term so she is running for re-election this year.
Growing up, Capito was steeped in politics. Her father, Arch Alfred Moore Jr., served three terms as Governor of West Virginia. One of the issues she is now focusing on is the digital divide in her state. Her broadband deployment plan, called Capito Connect, works on bringing affordable Internet service to all of her constituents, especially those who live in rural communities.
“It’s a question of equity,” Capito said. “Just because you live five miles out from the nearest town, in a lot of ways you’re excluded because providers aren’t going out to that last mile.”
Capito supports President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, in this year’s presidential election.
“I think that his policies in my state have resulted, until we had the pandemic, in lower unemployment, more people working, more people from minority groups working, and also wages going up,” Capito said.
The Senator does think, however, that there are areas the President could improve upon. “The President has challenges,” she said. “His tone that he’s taken sometimes, I think, is difficult.”