Inside the United Steelworkers Local 2911 in Weirton, West Virginia, Mark Glyptis has been running the show for more than three decades.
The longtime union president said the gigantic steel plant right outside the hall is why the city exists.
“It’s been the lifeline of this valley,” Glyptis told Spectrum News.
In the 1960s, 14,000 people worked at Weirton Steel. In April of this year, the final tin mill was idled and the few remaining jobs were erased.
“People around here expected the government to do something,” Glyptis said.
As the 2024 presidential election nears, a lot of time is spent talking about the half dozen or so battleground states that will likely decide the race. But what about the states that are safely red or blue? How did they get to be that way?
In West Virginia, a state that was once heavily Democratic and is now deeply Republican, Glyptis said the loss of the city’s “lifeline” is one reason for the drastic political change.
In Hancock County, where Weirton is located, Democrats spent decades winning the race for president, often by double digits. Bill Clinton was the last to do so in the 1990s.
Now, the county is reliably red – Donald Trump won it in 2016 and 2020 with 70% of the vote.
At the local museum on Main Street, Paul Zuros pulled out a newspaper article from the late 90s reporting that photos of Clinton campaigning in Weirton were taken down in the community center because people felt he didn’t keep his promise to protect the local steel industry.
“There was a lot of hard feelings for the area here, for folks who believed politicians who were coming in here telling us that things were going to change and they never did, unfortunately,” Zuros said.
Zuros comes from three generations of steelworkers and currently serves as the county administrator. He said the area turned reliably red as jobs disappeared – many to overseas – and folks felt forgotten.
“People have a strong memory here,” Zuros said.
Other states with large concentrations of white, working class voters also have shifted from blue to red, but the change is especially pronounced in West Virginia.
Trump won the state twice with nearly 70% of the vote, among his highest margins nationally.
As you walk around Weirton, you see Trump flags flying and meet people like Mark Steven Watson.
“A lot of these people around here, including myself, I’m an old Democrat,” he said. “The Democratic Party used to be -- the Democratic Party was for the working man."
A new battery plant is being built on the grounds of the old steel mill thanks, in part, to incentives from one of President Joe Biden’s signature accomplishments, the Inflation Reduction Act.
It could help turn things around for the city, but Glyptis said it’s too new to help Biden as he runs this year for a second term.
“At some point, if someone makes a difference, Democrat or Republican, you’ll see a switch,” Glyptis said. “But right now, it’s not going to for this election, in my view.”
Sam Workman, a political scientist at West Virginia University, said one reason the state has changed politically is because how people get information has changed.
“There's been incredible consolidation in media outlets and the result of that has been that sort of national narratives about politics, they pierce more deeply into local communities in the state than they used to,” he told Spectrum News.
Back at the local museum, Zuros said the community can be persuaded by anyone who can help Weirton get back on its feet.
“We’re happy for anything, to be honest with you,” he said. “Whether it came from a Democrat or Republican, I don’t think it would make a difference.”
But, for now at least, this is Trump country. Residents said the way the former president speaks resonates with them.
Heidi Baranowski, who voted for Barack Obama, now says Democrats have not kept their promises.
“I’m definitely pro-Trump because he literally has tried to make America great,” she said.