Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, will run for the Senate seat now held by moderate Joe Manchin, setting up a marquee clash in Democrats’ struggle to keep control of the chamber in 2024.
(Bloomberg) — Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, will run for the Senate seat now held by moderate Joe Manchin, setting up a marquee clash in Democrats’ struggle to keep control of the chamber in 2024.
Justice, a former Democrat who switched parties during the Trump administration, filed official paperwork Thursday to run for the Senate after months of speculation from onlookers and teasing from Justice.
He tweeted an opening video for his campaign Thursday afternoon touting his record of cutting taxes, expanding gun rights and restricting abortion.
“I’m committed to fighting for energy jobs, tax cuts, and fiscal responsibility,” he said.
Manchin, who hasn’t yet announced whether he would seek reelection, said in a statement: “Make no mistake, I will win any race I enter.”
West Virginia, where Trump beat Biden by 39 percentage points in 2020, is the latest Senate battleground shaping up as a costly and volatile campaign. Justice, 72, had a 66% approval rating in a Morning Consult poll this month, which was 32 percentage points higher than Manchin.
Senate Democrats are preparing for expensive races to protect vulnerable incumbents in Trump-favored states including Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Jon Tester in Montana. They also face an expensive intra-party fight for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s California seat and a scrambled race in Arizona, another top battleground. The party is defending 23 seats while Republicans are defending 11 seats.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the West Virginia race a toss-up.
Justice, however, faces opposition in his own ranks. Republican Representative Alex Mooney, a Freedom Caucus member, has already announced he’s running on a Trump-friendly platform and has denounced the governor as insufficiently conservative, setting up a sharp-elbowed party primary.
Mooney is backed by the conservative Club for Growth. “The fact is Jim Justice is Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate, and would support the reckless spending that Manchin voted for and more,” Club for Growth Action President David McIntosh said in a statement.
Justice’s announcement video in turn slagged Mooney as an “all talk, no action, D.C. politician.”
McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines of Montana have both touted Justice’s electability in polling.
Manchin, 75, backed Justice in the 2016 primaries and the two have been political allies for years.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a Democrat who became an independent last year, previously told Bloomberg News that she would always support Manchin, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has also endorsed him.
Before becoming governor, Justice helped run his family businesses that range from agricultural to hospitality enterprises. He made Forbes’ billionaire list in 2020 but was removed after it was revealed the family-run coal business owed $850 million to Greensill Capital, which collapsed in March 2021. Justice is selling his Bluestone Resources Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported.
(Updates with Justice’s announcement video and other details, starting in the third paragraph.)
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