I'm a native West Virginian and I've been called everything from a hillbilly to a stump jumper. I'm always proud of it; I'm very proud to be a West Virginian.

I've been a conservative in West Virginia before that was popular. I've seen a change in West Virginia. Not a change in John Raese, but a change in West Virginia and a change in America.

We did it in the most hillbilly way we could think of, and there we were,

I've always been a proud man.

Being Somali, being Muslim, it's always something I've been very proud of.

I've always been interested in the history of the West, our country and particularly as it relates to the Native Americans - the original Americans.