John Raese
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John R. Raese (born April 10, 1950) is a West Virginia businessman and has been the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate in 1984 and 2006.
Raese's 1984 race was quite nearly the national U.S. Senate upset of that year. Raese has the distinction of having taken on the three most powerful political machines in modern West Virginia history: Jay Rockefeller, Arch Moore, and Robert Byrd.
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[edit] Raese v Rockerfeller in 1984
John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV, a two-term Governor who presided during a difficult economic downturn, was forced to outspend Raese by a margin of $12 million to $1.2 million. This, despite Rockefeller being a Democrat in a 2-1 Democratic state and having universal name recognition after 12 years in statewide office. Raese, a political unknown until this race, held his own as a debater with Governor Rockefeller, challenging the incumbent's record on such sensitive issues as the closure of several dozen coal mines on his watch.
Some national news organizations were preparing for a possible upset by Raese as the general election day approached. However, Raese narrowly lost the U.S. Senate race to Rockefeller in the general election 52%-48%. When Rockefeller's campaign had already bought up as many TV ads as possible across the small state, many wondered how the Democratic Governor's campaign had managed to spend $2 million in the last days of the campaign. Raese challenged the outcome of the race.
[edit] Young chairman of the WV Republican Party
The 1984 race put John Raese on the West Virginia political map at age 34, catapulting him to Chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party (GOP). As Chairman of the WV GOP, Raese confirmed his status as a Reagan Republican, i.e., a traditional conservative on both economic and social policies. However, Raese also reached out to those beyond the Republican Party. For example, Raese pushed through his idea that Independent voters in West Virginia should be allowed to vote in Republican Party primaries.
Raese also modernized the State GOP Headquarters, donating computers to help the party organize its database better. Raese has long been seen as embracing technology, as evidenced by his creative TV and radio spots in his political and issue-oriented campaigns over the years.
One of these issue campaigns featured Raese joining with the West Virginia Federation of Young Republicans to promote "Voters' Rights," also known as "Initiative, Referendum, and Recall." Such "power to the people" efforts proved popular enough to force then Democratic Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Chuck Chambers, to debate the subject of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall with Raese on West Virginia Public Television.
Raese, whose skills as a debater were first noticed in his 1984 U.S. Senate campaign, confronted Chambers with the fact that he had, in fact, voted for some of these very reforms previously. When Chambers denied this, Raese pulled out a long sheet of paper, citing Chambers' particular votes in favor of Raese's position.
[edit] Raese v Moore in 1988
Raese was popular enough as State GOP Chairman to take on the most successful Republican politician in West Virginia's history, three-term Governor Arch A. Moore, in 1988. Raese stepped aside as GOP Chairman to run against Moore in the primary. Moore had an impressive first two terms as Governor from 1968–1976 in large part due to the oil crisis, making West Virginia coal a more valuable commodity. Moore then lost a close U.S. Senate race in 1978 against Democratic incumbent U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph.
Moore returned to the Governorship in 1984, enjoying the same Reagan re-election year Raese had against Rockefeller.
Many Republicans saw Moore as not wishing to share any limelight—or Republican National Committee funding—with Raese in 1984. As Moore's third term progressed, without as much of the success of his previous two terms, Raese's Reagan conservatism began to have great appeal to many in the WV GOP, especially among the younger voters. With Moore's third term wearing thin and rumors of federal investigations into the Moore Administration swirling, Raese decided to run against Moore in the 1988 Republican primary.
Raese lost his primary challenge to Gov. Arch Moore in another closely contested race, 53%-47%. Gov. Moore later lost in his bid for reelection. Importantly, soon after leaving the Governor's Mansion Moore entered a guilty plea to corruption charges and was sentenced to a sentence of a little over two years at the federal penitentiary at Maxwell A.F.B. in Alabama. Raese's concerns about the damage that Moore's investigation would have on the state and the WV GOP's prospects were confirmed by Moore's incarceration.
But if Moore was permanently knocked out of West Virginia politics, Raese also took time out from politics to focus on his family businesses. Raese remained an active supporter of the West Virginia Federation of Young Republicans, helping them draw the 1993 National Young Republicans Convention to Charleston, WV, beating back rival bids from the much larger Chicago YR and Atlanta YR organizations.
With the exception of his patronage of Young Republican activities, his passionate defenses of West Virginia University in opinion/editorial pieces in state newspapers, and occasional conservative concerns on education issues, government intrusion into business, and trade policy involving the steel industry, Raese was politically quiet with one exception: attending the National Republican Convention as an at-large delegate from West Virginia.
[edit] Raese v Byrd in 2006
After sitting out of campaigns for eighteen years, Raese surprised the political establishment of West Virginia again by declaring his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by the firmly entrenched Robert C. Byrd, the longest serving member of the U.S. Senate and former Senate Majority Leader and Senate Appropriations Chair. Byrd was seen as undefeatable due to his seniority in the U.S. Senate, allowing him to funnel millions of dollars in federal projects back to West Virginia.
On May 9, 2006, Raese won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate with 58 percent of the vote in a field of six candidates. In radio advertisements aired during the primary race, Raese's campaign replayed a tape of an endorsement from Ronald Reagan made during the 1984 Senate race.
Despite Byrd's age, his seniority carried the day in a victory over Raese in the general election in November 2006. Some have speculated that Raese took the opportunity of the 2006 race against Byrd mostly to re-introduce himself to the West Virginia voting public. Top Republican leaders, including U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of neighboring Kentucky, stumped for Raese during the campaign.
Raese stressed the value of the job-creating capacity of the private sector and the importance of honoring traditional values. Raese, a Presbyterian, has long been a supporter of the pro-life movement, the right to bear arms, anti-tax efforts, and small businesses in West Virginia.
[edit] Raese's wife launches Conservative Women of West Virginia (2007)
Raese's wife, Elizabeth, launched a new statewide women's group, "Conservative Women of West Virginia," which had over 100 women attend its inaugural meeting at the Raeses' Greer Mansion near Morgantown in November 2007. The group was active for the GOP national and state ticket in the 2008 election. More recently, the group has been supportive of some of the initiatives of the WV Republican Party, including helping with the May 2009 speaking engagement of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
[edit] Family and Education
Raese is the son of Jane Greer Raese and Richard Aubrey "Dyke" Raese, a successful head basketball coach at West Virginia University whose 1942 team won the NIT.
Raese graduated from WVU (B.S. 1973). He is president and CEO of Greer Industries http://www.greerindustries.com , a steel and limestone producer. His business interests also include The Dominion Post (Morgantown),the West Virginia Radio Corporation, which owns 15 radio stations, and the MetroNews radio network serving 56 stations. Greer Industries also owns Seneca Caverns, a tourist spot in Eastern West Virginia. Raese's businesses employ about 1,000 people.
