HUNTINGTON – Many people might know Chris Miller as the guy from his wacky television ads for his car dealerships.
But the 43-year-old isn’t joking when he talks about his 2024 gubernatorial campaign. He’s all business, and he has as many ideas to improve the state as his TV commercials have laughs.
“I oversee 26 enterprises and employee about 650 people,” Miller said in an exclusive wide-ranging interview with The West Virginia Record. “I’ll be 44 in February. I’m in my prime earning years. For years, I’ve watched our state never reach its unfulfilled potential because of poor leadership, and I’m sick and tired of it.
“I want to fix it. Our state is a gold mine. And if we play our cards the right way, we are on the verge of greatness. I’m ready to make that happen.”
Miller, who announced his Republican gubernatorial campaign last year, is the son of U.S. Representative Carol Miller. His grandfather Samuel L. Devine also served in Congress representing Ohio.
But Miller says they can keep Washington.
“I’d never want another job in politics,” he said. “I’d never want to live in D.C. I want to be on our family farm tending to the bison and hunting.
“I’d sign a pledge right now promising this is the only job in politics I want.”
Pointing to the annual state budget of more than $4.5 billion, Miller says he’s the only person who has announced gubernatorial plans or has been mentioned as a possible candidate who has experience managing such large amounts of money.
“We have about $750 million a year flowing through our companies,” he said. “We have a footprint in West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kanas. I understand the importance of money flow. I also have a data analysis company, and I know how to use data to help make good decisions.
“I’m the only outsider. I’m the only one who knows how to run a business. I know the importance of keeping people employed. And I promise that no one will outwork me.”
Before he decided to run for governor, he said he talked it over with his wife and children.
“They basically told me that if you have the aptitude and the ability to fix things, you have a social and moral obligation to do so,” he said. “It’s so very important, and I’m ready to go.”
Miller recalled a lesson he learned with he was 10 years old. He told his father he wanted a pair of Air Jordans that cost $125. Even though his family could afford the shoes, his dad told him to get a job to earn the money to buy them. So, he did.
“He said, ‘If you want them, you have to earn them,’” Miller said. “So, I delivered newspapers. I did that for more than two years. I got up every morning, even on holidays, and did my route. And I’ve been working ever since. I later worked on the farm doing manual labor like bailing hay and building corrals.”
Now, Miller says he’s ready to use his strengths to make the Mountain State stronger.
“I probably am the greatest marketer in West Virginia,” he said. “And I understand business and how to make thing work.”
Miller sees serious challenges ahead for the state for a variety of reasons. He says the passage of the Affordable Care Act is putting pressure on the state.
“Simply put, we need to add 200,000 to 300,000 people to the state,” Miller said. “There are not enough people here to take care of everyone. The DHHR (Department of Health and Human Resources) faces problems. PEIA (Public Employees Insurance Agency) is very expensive. In eight to 12 years, it’s all going to start affecting our bond ratings statewide.
“The cost of government will go sky high, and we have to fix it now. We can’t keep fixing things with Band-Aids. Short-term fixes don’t work. We’re only going to finish about 2/3 of the road bond projects because of COVID, labor costs and inflation.
“We have to start thinking 40 years down the road. Simply put, these politicians are not capable of fixing this. They don’t understand macro and micro economics.”
Miller also extolled the importance of West Virginia’s natural resources.
“We have let people and businesses extract precious resources from our state for generations, and we have nothing to show for it,” he said. “Our people are incredible. They’ve mined coal and built steel that helped us win World War I and World War II. We have produced more soldiers per capita than any other state. Yet, again, we have nothing to show for it.
“Water is perpetual power. More water flows through West Virginia than just about any state. We own the Ohio River all the way to the Ohio border. We need to harness that power for political and economic might.”
“We have natural gas and coal, too. Both are so important. But we also have rare earth elements like cobalt, lithium, graphene and graphite that are needed for batteries.”
Miller also talked about some of the other big issues facing the state, such as the opioid epidemic.
“We’ve lost these souls, and that’s awful,” he said. “But going forward, this is impacting the state foster care system. There are not enough people and families to take care of these children affected. And people relapse when there is a lack of earning opportunity, and that’s a major problem here.
“But, we need people to work in trades. So, why not pair rehab and with training people to work in trades?”
He also discussed the state’s education system.
“Teachers are totally underpaid, yet we are in the top 15 states in the country in terms of money spent on education,” Miller said. “How does that make sense? We need to teach, but we have to eliminate the bureaucracy and the bullcrap. We need to get rid of the Good Ole Boy network, but not just in education.
“We need to pay our teachers better and give them more resources.”
He also said the state needs to do a much better job of building infrastructure, including broadband.
“Jim (Justice) has done a pretty good job as governor,” Miller said. “He’s one of the better governors I can remember from the standpoint of getting things done. But, we need to do more. So much more.
“One idea I have is to hire a team of grant writers to pluck money from the federal government. It’s just sitting out there. They’ve taken from us for years, so why not take from them if they’re just giving it away?”
Miller also said building population only can help the state. He has ideas on that as well.
“We need to market ourselves better to people who work remotely,” he said. “So much has changed in the last few years. We have everything someone could want in terms of a place to live and to raise a family. We need to find the type of people who would be a good fit here and convince them why they need to move here.
“And it all works together. The hydro power I talked about earlier. We could build world-class waterfront areas like Lake Norman down in North Carolina. That’s a man-made lake. We have so much natural beauty in the state. People just don’t know enough about it.
“Plus, we need to look at taxes. The states with zero personal income tax are the states that are growing. Look at Tennessee, Texas and Florida.
“I have so many ideas. I think they’d all work and make the state better on so many levels. And I think I can get the job done.”
In addition to Miller, House of Delegates member Moore Capito is the only other candidate who has announced plans to run in the 2024 Republican gubernatorial primary. But Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Secretary of State Mac Warner and Auditor J.B. McCuskey all have been mentioned as possible candidates as well.
