Infrastructure Vote May Have Cost McKinley His Seat In Congress

Congressman David McKinley was one of only 13 Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The legislation will bring billions of dollars to West Virginia for roads, bridges, airports, broadband, and water and wastewater systems.

It’s helping to clean up hundreds of abandoned coal mines and cap thousands of orphaned oil and gas wells.

McKinley, a civil engineer, lost a primary election Tuesday to fellow Republican Congressman Alex Mooney. McKinley’s vote for the infrastructure bill was used against him in the campaign.

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican who also voted for the bill, said she’d hoped for more Republican support.

“I’m very disappointed that something like infrastructure becomes politicized,” she said.

Former President Donald Trump opposed the infrastructure bill and endorsed Mooney.