I buried my baby brother this year because of the opioid crisis, I've seen my friends and family, strong miners born and bred in these hills out of work, and people crying out for help. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
The people I've met through my path in activism, we're trying to bring real people into a leadership role because we are real Americans… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I was born here in West Virginia, though I spent a little time in North Carolina when my step-dad got laid off from the… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
It doesn't bother me to be called a 'hillbilly' because I lived in the hills. I grew up in the hills and the mountains… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
The question we face today is: What are we going to do when the coal is gone? And make no mistake it's going. No… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
But my family is connected to coal. There's hardly anybody in West Virginia that doesn't have a connection to the coal industry. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
The Democratic Party has failed us, because we haven't run the progressive platform we've been promised... That's why people have moved their votes to… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I'm really not a politician: I don't have a political background, though I've been an activist fighting for my community for years. So I… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I've done everything imaginable as a mother and a coal miner's daughter to create a brighter future for our children, and it fell on… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I have diverticulitis. Most of my family have stomach issues because of the water we drank when we were little. Lots of people have… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I believe our future is in building a 21st-century, clean economy. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
Joe Manchin has been our secretary of state, he's been our governor and he's been our senator. And through his long terms, we have… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
We tapped into the abandoned mine land fund to pay for pensions, and that money was to clean up the mines, not make up… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
