The Associated Press called the Ace Parsi race for the U.S. House 2nd District around 4 p.m. Wednesday, a day after Tuesday’s election. (Photo courtesy of Ace Parsi)
Ace Parsi, an Iranian immigrant and Morgantown community organizer, narrowly won the Democratic primary for U.S. House District 2.
The Associated Press called the Parsi race around 4 p.m. Wednesday, a day after Tuesday’s election.
According to the preliminary results, Parsi received 17,696 votes and Stephanie Spears Tomana received 16,908 votes. U.S. Navy veteran Steve Wendelin received 9,980 votes in the race.
Parsi, a community organizer from Morgantown, He emigrated from Iran to the United States with this family at the age of 8. His brother was supposed to be drafted into the military.
He served as coalition engagement director for iCivics, a coalition of national groups that support civics and history education, before leaving his position earlier this year to run for Congress.
Speaking to West Virginia Watch on Thursday, Parsi noted how unlikely it was for him to make the journey from a country with what he called an “authoritarian regime” to one where his name appears on the ballot of a democracy.
“It shows me what I really want to fight for when I think about my daughter’s future: How can we make a country and our community better?” he said. “And I feel really touched. I’m grateful. I’m not one of those people who thinks we can do everything alone.
“I’m grateful to our volunteers and the people who gave their talents and treasures. That’s why I’m grateful. I feel the weight of the moment and I’m excited. I feel like we have a lot of great ideas and things that we can tackle now with the general campaign.”
Tomana, a Fairmont teacher, said in a statement on Facebook Wednesday that given how close the results are, she will wait to see what the final results are once the election results are official.
(*2*) she said in a Facebook post Wednesday night. “We released this statement this morning and we continue to stand by it. Still, I want to say thank you, even if that’s simply not enough.”
Parsi will face incumbent Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va., in the general election. Moore was unopposed in the Republican primary.
Parsi said he would like to see citizen debates with Moore held in “every district” of the county.
“I think the people of West Virginia deserve this. Even if they don’t vote for me, they deserve it,” Parsi said. “So I hope (Moore) stands up to this type of campaign because I think West Virginians deserve a real campaign of ideas.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
