John Doyle, of Shepherdstown, is finishing his 26th year in the West Virginia House of Delegates, and was West Virginia Deputy Secretary of Revenue from 2014 to 2017. Dale Manuel, of Charles Town, served 16 years in the House of Delegates and 12 years on the Jefferson County Commission.

They were the Democratic Party nominees for seats on the Jefferson County Commission in the recent general election.

We profoundly thank everybody that voted in Jefferson County on Nov. 8. We include those who voted, for either or both of us, and those who voted otherwise. We’re sorry we lost, but we accept and respect the outcome.

And we congratulate our victorious opponents, Clare Anne Ath and Jennifer Krouse. The voters chose them, and not either of us (or David Tabb, the Mountain Party candidate who was also defeated) to address Jefferson County’s myriad problems over the next several years. We wish Ms. Ath and Ms. Krouse godspeed in these efforts. The voters, by their choices, have assigned Ms. Ath and Ms. Krouse (along with the other three county commissioners) the responsibility of deciding on the many questions that will be before the Jefferson County Commission in the next few years.

We are not going away. Each of us will participate as private citizens in a positive manner, as well as we can. One of us (Dale) will need a few weeks to recover from a serious health problem that necessitated a hospital visit a few days before the election. But we’ll both be active as citizens whenever we can be.

We particularly urge all citizens to join us at the public hearings on the rewriting of the county’s comprehensive plan over the next two years. We think it is of the utmost importance for citizens to join us in attendance and give their two cents worth.

We also wish to thank all the many poll workers who offered their time and effort to make our election function well here in Jefferson County. They are the worker bees of democracy, as responsible as any for our republic being a beacon of freedom for the last 246 years.

Tim Ryan, the defeated Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, began his post-election speech with the words, “it is my privilege to concede this election.” It is our privilege to concede this election to Ms. Ath and Ms. Krouse. They have been elected to govern our county, and we wish them well in doing so.

John Doyle and Dale Manuel