Paula Jean Swearengin
This image belongs to Wikimedia Commons user DrOwl19 and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.Bio | Paula Jean Swearengin is an activist from Mullins, West Virginia, where she was raised in a family of coal miners. She one of the four candidates featured in the 2019 documentary Knock Down the House. |
Status and Position | Former Candidate of N/A |
Political Party and Jurisdiction | Democrat, N/A |
Elections | Election Jurisdiction | Started Campaign | Campaign Status | Poll Rankings (of the vote) |
| 2020 Senate Election West Virginia 1 | West Virginia 1 | Yes | Running | 26.9%% |
Campaign Financing | Swearengin claims to have a "100% people-funded campaign" and has pledged not to take any money from corporations or lobbyists. Based on her most recent fundraising report, 93% of her campaign funding did indeed come from individual contributions, the rest from authorized committees. |
Voting Rights | Her stance on voting rights is not yet known. |
Opinions on Issues
Issues | Stance | Summary |
| Universal Healthcare | For | Swearengin is a supporter of the proposed universal healthcare system Medicare For All (M4A) On her campaign platform, Swearengin states that "healthcare is a human right" and that enacting universal healthcare would allow the country to save billions by cutting out predatory insurance companies. |
| Socialized Healthcare | For | The primary tenet of Swearengin's healthcare policy is in expanding the programs of Medicare and Medicaid to every citizen. |
| Private Healthcare | Against | Swearengin has denounced the healthcare industry as one that profits off suffering and desperation and wants to enact fully universal, government-provided healthcare. |
| LGBT Rights | For | Swearengin supports LGBT+ rights. In response to some WV Republicans' comments about the LGBTQ movement, Swearengin stated that "I stand with the LGBT members in the West Virginia community and will call out all forms of bigotry…There is no room in the body of our representation in West Virginia for intolerance and hate." |
| Taxes | Nuance | Swearengin calls for reforming the tax code to reduce loopholes and administrative burden. As part of her platform, Swearengin has spoken out against the low tax rate paid by the rich. She has also campaigned on the idea of eliminating the need to *file* taxes, since the government should already know what most workers owe. |
| Flat Tax Rate | Against | Swearengin has advocated for a progressive tax rate, especially on the rich. As part of her platform, Swearengin has spoken out against the low tax rate paid by the rich. She has also campaigned on the idea of eliminating the need to *file* taxes, since the government should already know what most workers owe. |
| Abortion | For | She is pro-choice. Swearengin's position is best described as "safe, legal, and rare," where she makes clear her support for improved healthcare and access to childcare for women so that they won't have to worry about having a child they can't take care of. |
| Gun Control | Nuance | She supports the 2nd Amendment, but also common-sense gun-control legislation She supports tightening background checks on weapon purchases and regulating all sales of weapons—making sure to include other red-flag behaviors. |
| Assisted Suicide | Unknown | She has not made clear her stance on assisted suicide. She supports tightening background checks on weapon purchases and regulating all sales of weapons—making sure to include other red-flag behaviors. |
| Government Interference | For | She calls for government intervention and federal legislation to deal with many of the local issues in the state, including opioid addiction and faltering infrastructure |
| Planned Parenthood | For | In 2018, when she ran against Joe Manchin III in the Democratic primary, she attacked him over his votes to defund Planned Parenthood |
| Welfare | For | She is supportive of most welfare programs in the US. Swearengin is supportive of expanding welfare programs such as Medicare, and has also called for increasing the solvency of Social Security in order to better support retirees and other beneficiaries. |
| Welfare | Unknown | She has not staked out a position on stem cell research. |
| Death Penalty | Unknown | She has not made clear a position on capital punishment. N/A |
| Mandatory Prison Sentence | Against | Swearengin has called for an end to mandatory prison sentences and to give more discretion back to courts and judges. |
| Military Spending | Against | She has criticized the high spending bills of the US military and stated that those funds should go to lift people out of poverty. |
| War on Terrorism | Unknown | Swearengin has made few statements about the "war on terror". |
| Foreign Policy International Interaction | Unknown | Swearengin has no platform yet on foreign policy, focusing largely on issues local to West Virginia. N/A |
| United Nations power | Unknown | Swearengin has spoken at the UN on environmental issues, but has not issued a statement on the organization's role in world politics. |
| Nationalism | Unknown | Swearengin does not have a stated position on nationalism. |
| Free Markets | Nuance | Swearengin supports free markets and expanding industry, but also some level of government intervention. In her platform, she calls for increasing the minimum wage and to tie it to the inflation rate; however, she also wants to reduce federal incentives for coal and expand the types of industry in West Virginia. |
| Brexit | Unknown | Swearengin does not have a public stance on Brexit. |
| Affirmative Action | Unknown | She does not have a public position on affirmative action. |
| Government Spending | For | Swearengin advocates for increased government spending in order to address crises facing West Virginia, which she claims will be offset by an increased tax rate on the rich and large corporations. |
| Charter Schools | Nuance | Swearengin calls for reforming education in West Virginia—and greater public investment—but does not specifically address charter schools |
| Common Core | Unknown | Swearengin has not made clear a stance on the Common Core, focusing mostly on higher-education policy. N/A |
| Clean Energy | For | Swearengin states that West Virginia needs a future beyond coal and that renewable energy is that future. As a former environmental activist, Swearengin is deeply supportive of clean energy initiatives; she's supported Ohio's initiative to grow such an industry, and called for West Virginia to do the same. |
| Religious Freedom | Unknown | She does not have a public stance yet on religious freedom. N/A |
| Separation of Church and State | Unknown | She does not have a public stance yet on the separation of church and state. |
| Slavery Reparations | Unknown | Swearengin does not have a public stance yet on reparations. |
| Border Control | Nuance | Swearengin is in favor of increasing immigration, though recognizes the need for some control. Swearengin has called for creating a swift and secure path to citizenship for many immigrant workers, as well as creating legal centers across Latin America to attract those workers. |
| Passenger Profiling | Unknown | She does not have a public stance yet on profiling. |
| DACA | For | Swearengin has called for creating a safe and secure path to citizenship for the immigrants currently living in the country, which includes DACA recipients. |
| Sanctuary Cities | Unknown | She does not have a public stance yet on sanctuary cities |
| Legalizing Marijuana | For | Swearengin wants West Virginia to create an industry around marijuana in a similar manner to Kentucky, as part of her plan on economic diversity. |
This image belongs to Wikimedia Commons user DrOwl19 and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.