Sometimes it’s a particular issue; other times it can be a single vote, a comment made, or the potential for missed opportunities.
But this time? For Glen Dale resident Bob Dobkin? What convinced him to file candidacy papers to run as a Republican in West Virginia’s 2nd Senatorial District?
Just so happens, Dobkin recalls the very moment … and he tells it best.
“I can tell you exactly when it was,” the first-time candidate said. “On September 10th of last year, that was the day that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. So, that was a big day, especially for our youth in our country. So, I went home like every other day and had dinner with my family and talked about that tragedy, and that evening I also sat down with my son and my son was shook to the core. That’s when I realized just how the state of politics for our young people has been full of divide and hate and vitriol.
“So, our kids, that’s all they know right now is the politics of 2020s. They don’t remember when politics was civil. They don’t remember when there was political discourse and debate regardless of the side of the aisle that you sat upon,” he said. “That’s their perception of politics. That’s their perception of our government. So, I slept on that that night, and the next day, September 11th, I went to work, and as always, I went down to the 9/11 memorial service at Heritage Port.
“I listened to the pastors and the community leaders talk about the events of September 11th and also talk about what happened the day before with Charlie Kirk, the political assassination, and the divide in our country and political violence. And so, I walked back up into my office and my phone rings and it’s a dear friend of mine who’s been a mentor of mine for a very long time,” Dobkin explained. “We talked about the same two things – 9/11 and Charlie Kirk – and he had encouraged me to use my experience, to use my voice, and to act upon making a change. That’s why I knew that day, because of the events of those two days and after that telephone call, that I was going to use what I had to make a difference in West Virginia.”
Does he wish to identify the mentor?
“Yeah, absolutely,” Dobkin said. “His name is Joe Eddy. He’s running for state senate in District 1 in West Virginia, and I hold him in the highest regard. Joe and I have been friends for a very long time. He’s been a mentor of mine and a true, true friend and a true inspiration.
A civil rights leader named Frederick Douglass once said something like, ‘I prayed for freedom over and over again and nothing changed until I started praying with my legs.” So, that’s what I’m doing with my campaign,” the Republican said. “That’s what I’ve been doing since November. I’m going to act, and I think we need more people to take action if we want to see change.”
Now Is the Time
He’s an attorney with Spilman Thomas & Battle in downtown Wheeling, and Dobkin, his wife, Amy, and son, Ben, love outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and hunting, and yes, they are tourists in the same state in which they were raised.
Politics, though, has been something the candidate has followed since he was a teenager, but running for an elected position was, in his words, “the last thing I saw on my radar.”
“I’ve spent a lifetime interested in politics and I grew up in the Reagan era,” the 50-year-old explained. “I’ve spent a lifetime interested and engaged in political discourse, and my wife, Amy, used to make fun of me because all my friends would watch NFL and I’d be watching C-SPAN. I’ve always kind of geeked out on it, but I never gave it a serious thought to actually enter the political arena until it all came together for me last September.
“I think now is the time; I really do,” he said. “I truly believe it’s on us right now because those who are in power; a lot of those people who are involved with politics today are living in a world of performative politics. It’s political theater, and the concern for me has been increasingly frustrating with the lack of civility and the lack of decorum.
“I’m telling you right now, from my experience talking with voters in the 2nd District, people are tired of this. People want results. They’re so sick of the rhetoric. They are so sick of adults not being able to work together as part of a team to address these issues in the state of West Virginia, so that’s why I’m doing it.”
Dobkin’s primary duties as an attorney with Spillman, according to the firm’s website, involve corporate and business law, real estate, mineral law, estate and trust planning and administration, and most days he advises his clients on a plethora of legal matters, including business formation, land development, estate plans, asset protection, and much more.
“That means I’ve spent my adulthood solving complex problems. Whether that was for a business or part of a legal dispute between two parties, I’ve always had the ability to help find solutions in difficult matters,” he said. “I’ve always had the ability to have tough conversations with parties, with people, in order to find common ground and create solutions to whatever the complex issue is.
“It’s just a matter of working together, right? We’re all human, right? We’re all not always going to get what we want,” Dobkin said. “Maybe Mick Jagger said it best when he said ‘You get what you need’, and what we need in West Virginia is workforce participation, we need to solve poverty, we need access to affordable healthcare, and we need to improve our student success rates.
“That’s what we need, so, we’ve got to be able to get beyond our own personal ideologies on these issues and to get what we need for the state of West Virginia and for everyday West Virginians. We need to come together and I don’t care if you’re a Republican or Democrat or Libertarian or in the Mountain Party. All of these issues affect us all.”
