William Ridenour
Republican | West Virginia
Candidate Profile
Verified Conservative
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
Marine Corps War College, Quantico, VA, Masters in Strategic Studies, 2017
University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, Masters in Economics, 2000
Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Quantico, VA, Graduate, 1996
Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, Quantico, VA, Graduate, 1990
Defense Intelligence College, Washington DC, Graduate, Post-Graduate Intelligence Program, 1986
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Bachelors in History, 1980
WORK & MILITARY
Defense Intelligence Agency, GG-15, 2008-2021
Counterintelligence Field Activity, GG-14, 2001-2008
Director of Naval Intelligence, N2, GG-13, 2000-2001
United States Marine Corps, Major, 1980-2000
AFFILIATIONS
West Virginia Citizens Defense League, Member, 2021-2026
Veterans of Foreign War, Life Member
Gun Owners of America, Member
Eastern Panhandle Business Association, Member, 2023-2026
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
West Virginia House of Delegates, District 100, 4 years, 2022-2026
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
West Virginia House of Delegates, District 100, 2022-2026
SCORECARDS
CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS
2024
A
2023
100%
2025
90%, 95%†
2025
93%
2024
|A
2023
|100%
2025
|90%, 95%†
2025
|93%
LIBERAL ORGANIZATIONS
ENDORSEMENTS
CONSERVATIVE (4)
National Rifle Association NRA-PVF
Patrick Morrisey
Stand For Health Freedom
Americans for Health Freedom
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (7)
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey
West Virginia Senator Patricia Rucker
We the People of Jefferson County
West Virginia Stand for Health Freedom
Eastern Panhandle Business Association
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (1)
Bill Ridenour (2025)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (6)
Carl Martin (2026)
Eastern Panhandle Business Association (2026)
Patricia Rucker (2026)
Bill Ridenour (2025)
Kent Leonhardt (2024)
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Strongly Agree
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
In the event of a threat to the mother.
Human life deserves legal protection from conception until natural death.
Strongly Agree
The lives of human embryos created through artificial methods ought to be protected from purposeful destruction.
Strongly Agree
The Comstock Act, which bans interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs, should be enforced.
Strongly Agree
ECONOMY
What is your position on the minimum wage?
WV should not have a minimum wage. A minimum wage causes employers to find alternatives to employees, including automation, and closing or moving out of the state. It prevents employers from offering work to those willing to work for less.
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
I believe in and remain an advocate of Free Enterprise and private property rights as the only viable economic system for a free society. I am an opponent of any form of socialism or communism. I will fight to return our economy to a more Free Enterprise system.
List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.
Medicaid Fraud; Unemployment insurance fraud; Department of Human Services; Duplicative government functions/Over-regulation; Division of Highways, Department of Transportation. Corruption is still a critical issue in WV and remains a fundamental problem in each of the priorities I listed. We are making progress in rooting out waste and fraud, but we need to do more.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
The 1st Amendment doesn't ban relationships between government & religious groups. It established the constitutional principle that government should neither establish religion nor interfere with its free exercise. Jefferson's quote about a "wall of separation between Church & State" was never intended to drive religion out of our government, but rather implied a specific church or religion could not establish itself as paramount within our government. Jefferson was focused on religious liberty.
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Strongly Disagree
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
Medicaid and Medicare should remain available for the time being, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. Government, particularly the federal government, should eventually remove itself from healthcare and give people the freedom to chose their own healthcare options.
The government should keep a database of people with various ongoing medical illnesses to assess the economic burden of treatment.
Strongly Disagree
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Strongly Agree
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should be treated as an enemy state, given that the CCP is already engaged in an illegal asymmetric war against the United States that has cost thousands of American lives from the opioid epidemic the CCP is facilitating into the U.S., as well as the COVID biological warfare virus that the CCP spread around the world. I have sponsored Joint Resolutions against the PRC’s Illegal War each year in the WV legislative sessions.
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
Israel is one of the United States’ strongest allies. It is critical for defense against Islamic terrorism globally, particularly in the Middle East and Europe. It provides major military, counter-terrorism and intelligence capabilities throughout the Middle East and where Islamic terrorists have safe havens. It is the lynchpin in achieving any stability in the Middle East.
IMMIGRATION
I support the existence of sanctuary cities to protect undocumented persons.
Strongly Disagree
Sanctuary states or cities are engaged in obstruction of Constitutionally derived laws to remove illegal aliens who criminally remain in the U.S.
EDUCATION
I support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and giving control back to states and communities.
Strongly Agree
Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education.
Strongly Agree
VALUES
Government should recognize and support the fundamental right and essential duty of parents to direct their child's health and educational well-being.
Strongly Agree
Parents should have the right to make decisions for their minor children on the overwhelming majority of issues that affect their children, barring those decisions that would be directly dangerous for the children, including any decisions that would result in the mutilation or grooming of their child in the name of “gender transition.”
Attempts to physically or socially transition a child to the opposite sex constitute child abuse.
Strongly Agree
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Strongly Agree
I support the expansion of gambling in my state.
Strongly Disagree
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am a Christian and a Conservative.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
EQUALITY
Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.
Strongly Disagree
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Strongly Agree
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Man-made climate change is a global threat and requires urgent political action.
Strongly Disagree
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
Coal and natural gas.
ABOUT YOU
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Conservative
I am a Constitutional Conservative. I am best aligned with Ronald Reagan, who was a Conservative. Definitions have shifted such that a Liberal in years past, such as John F. Kennedy would now be regarded as a Conservative. So someone who is now regarded as Very Liberal today, would have supported Mao, Castro, Stalin and Ho Chi Minh in the 1950s and 1960s. The 'Democrat Socialists' fit that definition of 'Very Liberal.'
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
No.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
No.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
What should be the goal of the criminal justice system?
The fundamental goal is to protect the innocent and preserve a peaceful, orderly society. It must hold those who commit crimes accountable through fair punishment, deter crime, and preserve the rule of law, while protecting the constitutional rights of those involved.
Government has a responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation during online activities.
Strongly Agree
Sharia law should not be accepted or incorporated in any form within the legal framework of the United States.
Strongly Agree
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
Most restrictions don’t protect public safety. They provide a false sense of security & impede citizens’ self-defense. I support prohibiting possession by violent felons; those prohibited under federal law; illegal aliens; juveniles; those incarcerated, & those deemed dangerous or mentally incompetent after a valid due-process adjudication. Prohibiting knowingly transferring a firearm to a prohibited person, & punishing straw purchases for prohibited persons & other illegal firearm trafficking.
