The National Federation of Independent Business, West Virginia’s and the nation’s leading small-business association, today endorsed Evan Jenkins for Congress in West Virginia’s 3rd District.
“Our members support the candidates who support small business,” said Lisa Goeas, NFIB vice president for Political and Grassroots. “Evan Jenkins has stood with our members time and again as a member of the state Senate, and we know he will continue to support Main Street West Virginia in Congress.”
Gil White, state director of NFIB/West Virginia, said, “In the state Legislature, Evan Jenkins’ commitment to small business has been second to none.
“His support of free enterprise has been unwavering. If we’re serious about fixing things for small business, we need leaders like Evan Jenkins in Congress,” White said.
In the state Senate, Jenkins has fought for workers’ compensation, tort and medical malpractice reform and responsible spending. “Like our members, he knows you have to live within your means,” Goeas said. “He believes government should live within its means and stick to a budget, the same as any small business.
“He’s also been an outspoken critic of the deceptively named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and he supports easing the tax burden on small businesses as well as individuals and working families,” she said.
Jenkins’ endorsement comes from the NFIB SAFE (Save America’s Free Enterprise) Trust, the association’s political action committee, and is based on the candidates’ record and positions on key small-business issues including health care, taxes and labor and regulatory issues.
“When it comes to the issues that matter to Main Street, Evan Jenkins stands head and shoulders above his opponent, Nick Rahall,” Goeas said. “Voters have given Nick Rahall almost 40 years to help small business, but he’s amassed only a 26 percent NFIB voting record,” she said.
“Rather than helping the state’s job creators, Nick Rahall has defended Obamacare and supported onerous pro-union legislation such as card check, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and prevailing wage laws—legislation that results in more bureaucracy, higher operating costs and fewer job opportunities for real West Virginians.”
NFIB has 1,600 dues-paying members in West Virginia, representing a cross section of the commonwealth’s economy. Small-business owners and their employees vote in high numbers and are known for actively recruiting friends, family members and acquaintances to go to the polls. NFIB will encourage its members to help turn out the small-business vote for Evan Jenkins in the May 13 primary and again in November.
