Fingertips in ears.
One. At. A. Time.
That is exactly how Brooke McArdle handled many of the conversations at the dinner table while she was growing up in the city of Wheeling, and that’s because her parents, Elgin and Jack McArdle, enjoyed discussing political issues over the family meal.
The majority of the time the conversations concerned federal and state-level issues like taxes, crime, public assistance, and, of course, roads, roads, roads, but on occasion, the “Rents” would banter about the actions taken by Wheeling’s council members.
“It really didn’t matter what they discussed, I always asked them to stop and I would do everything I could not to listen to them because I wasn’t interested at all,” Brooke recalled. “But now, when I think about it, I know it was because I didn’t understand what it all means. Once I was in high school and college, I was able to participate in those conversations with my parents and my brother, and those talks became normal for us.”
Initially, Brooke applied that education to how she voted on Election Day. These days, though, she wants to utilize that political know-how in Charleston as the District 5 representative in the state House of Delegates.
“As soon as I realized politics is about the world that surrounds us all every day, and that you can do something about it if you want to, I immediately wanted to get involved more than just voting,” the 23-year-old said. “And everything, if you think about it, is about politics, and the last thing I’m going to ever do is quit voting. That’s crazy to me.”
Pucks and Politics
The McArdle family is big into the game of hockey and has been for decades.
Elgin, a very successful Wheeling attorney who now serves as the chairperson of the state Republican Party after years of leading Ohio County’s GOP, also has been very active with youth hockey associations in Wheeling and Morgantown, and with USA Hockey.
And Brooke, one of two McArdle children, played and loved youth hockey so much she was the lone lady on Wheeling Park High School’s hockey team before she graduated in 2018. For her to be that talented, though, means she endured a lot of travel … miles and miles and more miles of travel.
“Oh yes, we talked politics on the hockey trips, too, and we were taking a lot of trips back in high school. Practices were near Pittsburgh, but we made a lot of trips to Canada, Michigan, and to several others,” she recalled. “Yeah, me and my Mom would talk some hockey, too, but most of the time, it was politics.
“My mother has been in politics ever since I can remember, and I would go to the Lincoln Day dinners, and to the candidate forums and fundraisers, and when Ryan Ferns was in office, I knocked on doors with him and for him,” she said. “I’ve always been in politics, but on the outside. Now, I feel it’s time for me to be on the inside and that’s why I decided to run once I graduated.”
She earned accounting and legal studies degrees from Elmira College while playing varsity hockey for four years, and now is concentrating on her master’s in forensic and fraud examination. Ms. McArdle also is handling quite well Newcomer Campaign 101.
“I am running because of what I saw while I was going back and forth between here and New York. I didn’t like it and I know we can do better in District 5 and throughout the Northern Panhandle,” McArdle said. “I saw changes in Wheeling during those four years, and they weren’t positive changes. I want to find ways to help turn those things around in my hometown.
“I also would like to see the entire state of West Virginia take the next step forward as far as our economy is concerned,” she explained. “We’ve seen so much go away from our state for all the wrong reasons, but I believe we can bring the best parts back to our area with unified efforts on all levels. Those are conversations I am looking forward to the most in Charleston.”
