West Virginia Senate Voter Guide: Capito, Fetty Anderson and Wilson on Fuel Prices and the 2025 Tax Law
Three candidates are on the ballot for U.S. Senate in West Virginia on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026: Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who is seeking a third term, Democrat Rachel Fetty Anderson, a lawyer and former Morgantown deputy mayor, and Constitution Party candidate S. Marshall Wilson, a retired Army officer and former state delegate.
The Digital Free Press voter guide video compares the three candidates on fuel prices and the 2025 federal tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Here is where each one stands, based on the video, the candidates' own words, Capito's Senate record and West Virginia reporting.
The positions in the video match the candidates' answers in WVVA's Oct. 21 report, in which all three answered the same questions in separate interviews. The West Virginia Secretary of State's candidate list shows Capito of Charleston, Fetty Anderson of Morgantown and Wilson of Hedgesville. Rio Phillips, who finished fifth in the Democratic primary, is running as a declared write-in candidate and is not printed on the ballot.
Why Fuel Prices and the 2025 Tax Law Are Issues
Gas and diesel prices rose this year as the war with Iran disrupted oil shipments. In late April, AAA put West Virginia's average price for regular gas at $4.09 a gallon, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported. Early voting runs through Saturday, Oct. 31.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed the Senate 51-50 on July 1, 2025, and was signed into law that month. It extended the 2017 tax cuts and created tax breaks on tips and overtime, and it also changed eligibility rules for SNAP and Medicaid.
Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, Incumbent)
Capito, of Charleston, served seven terms in the U.S. House before winning her Senate seat in 2014. She chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Republican Policy Committee, and sits on the Appropriations Committee. President Donald Trump has endorsed her for re-election, according to her campaign.
On fuel prices, the video says Capito wants to bring the Iran situation to a close and produce more domestic energy through permitting reform to lower prices. That matches her words to WVVA: "First of all, I'm encouraging the president, you know, let's bring the Iranian situation to a close... We can create and use more of our own domestic energy. I've got a bill in there now, major bill, called permitting reform." In September, Capito and Sens. Mike Lee, Sheldon Whitehouse and Martin Heinrich introduced a bipartisan permitting bill to speed federal environmental reviews for energy and infrastructure projects; Capito called it "a major step toward making it faster and more efficient and easier to build infrastructure projects," the Associated Press reported. A Senate vote is not expected until after the midterms.
On the 2025 tax law, the video says Capito supported the law and that its SNAP changes aimed to eliminate fraud and abuse. Capito voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and called it "a family bill through and through," citing the expanded child tax credit and new savings accounts for newborns. On SNAP, she told WVVA: "When we look at the SNAP program, it just ballooned during COVID, and for good reason. And basically, what we've tried to do is eliminate fraud, eliminate any kind of abuse, and pull it into where it was before COVID."
Rachel Fetty Anderson (Democrat)
Fetty Anderson, of Morgantown, is a lawyer and former Morgantown city councilor and deputy mayor who describes herself as a foster parent. She won a five-way Democratic primary in May with 33% of the vote. Her campaign says it does not take money from corporations or foreign governments.
On fuel prices, the video says Fetty Anderson ties the rise in diesel prices over the past year to the war and tariffs. "One hundred percent of the rise in diesel prices over the past year is related to the war and tariffs," she told WVVA, adding that "you just never go to war in the Middle East for oil." Her campaign website says energy sources that "require the use of military operations to steal the resources of other countries are unsustainable," calls coal plants "an essential part of America's energy portfolio," and says only Congress can declare war.
On the 2025 tax law, the video says Fetty Anderson argues many people lost Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage even as the law cut taxes on tips. "You cut taxes on tips, but then when you go in to get Medicaid, or you go in to try to figure out if you can get an Affordable Care Act subsidy, most of those folks lost their health insurance completely," she told WVVA. Her campaign website says the tax burden "must be fairly and equitably distributed" among individuals, corporations and nonprofits, and calls for investing in Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.
S. Marshall Wilson (Constitution Party)
Wilson, of Hedgesville, is a retired Army infantry officer with more than 20 years of service and a pastor who did missionary work in Peru, according to his campaign. He served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 2016 to 2020 as a Republican and ran for governor in 2020 and 2024. He is now the Constitution Party's nominee. He says he will vote against any budget that does not balance.
On fuel prices, the video says Wilson points to an undeclared war in the Middle East and wants federal fuel taxes abolished. "First of all, we are in an undeclared war in the Middle East, which we should never... That's a big part of it," Wilson told WVVA. "I'm talking about a federal tax because I'm running for federal office. Frankly, I think that it needs to be abolished... That would change our economy vastly if we simply got rid of fuel taxes." His campaign website says he will "fight to unleash West Virginia's energy economy."
On the 2025 tax law, the video says Wilson calls omnibus-style bills corrupt and says they should never exist. "It should never exist, nothing like it, and it is really corrupt, frankly, to have these bills where you've got, well, you can name a chocolate factory after yourself if I can have 10 million dollars," Wilson told WVVA. His campaign website says he will "oppose every spending bill that exceeds constitutional authority" and "never vote to raise the debt ceiling without real cuts."
Where to Follow the Candidates
Shelley Moore Capito: @CapitoforWV on X and @capitoforwv on Instagram. Rachel Fetty Anderson: @rachelfettyanderson on Instagram and @rachel.fetty.ande on TikTok; no campaign X account could be found. S. Marshall Wilson: @smarshallwilson on X; his campaign website is wilsonwv.com.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. This guide is for information only; The Digital Free Press does not endorse any candidate.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: WVVA, "W.Va. candidates for U.S. Senate speak on Iran, tax cuts and more ahead of Senate election" (Oct. 21, 2026): https://www.wvva.com/2026/10/21/capito-fetty-anderson-speak-iran-tax-cuts-more-ahead-senate-election/ ; West Virginia Secretary of State, Candidates: https://candidates.wvsos.gov/ ; Associated Press via PBS NewsHour, "Senate reaches bipartisan deal on permitting bill to speed approvals of new energy projects": https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-reaches-bipartisan-deal-on-permitting-bill-to-speed-approvals-of-new-energy-projects ; West Virginia Public Broadcasting, "Capito Expects Gas Prices To Drop When Iran Agrees To Nuclear Limits" (April 30, 2026): https://wvpublic.org/story/economy/capito-expects-gas-prices-to-drop-when-iran-agrees-to-nuclear-limits/ ; Sen. Capito, "The One Big Beautiful Bill is a Family Bill": https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/capito-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-is-a-family-bill ; Shelley Moore Capito campaign: https://shelleymoorecapito.com/ ; Rachel Fetty Anderson campaign, Issues: https://www.fettyandersonforsenate.com/issues ; S. Marshall Wilson campaign: https://wilsonwv.com/ ; Wikipedia, 2026 United States Senate election in West Virginia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_Senate_election_in_West_Virginia
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