West Virginia Governor Enters Race to Sink Manchin

WASHINGTON — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice officially declared his candidacy for the Senate on Thursday, setting up a potential challenge to incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in 2024.

For months, the popular two-term Republican governor, who is often accompanied in public by he and his wife Cathy’s English Bulldog, Babydog, has been touted as the Republicans’ best chance to unseat Manchin in an increasingly red state.

In announcing his candidacy at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on Thursday, he said, “I absolutely will promise you to God above that I will do the job, and I will do the job that will make you proud.”

Joining him at the event was Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who described the term-limited governor as “a winner” and “the right person for West Virginia.”

Also throwing her support behind Justice was Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who said she sees the governor as key to the GOP taking back the majority in the U.S. Senate.

Justice entered politics after a long career in his family’s coal and agriculture businesses. 

He joined his family’s Bluestone Industries in 1976 and officially took over upon his father’s death in 1993. 

Justice was first elected governor in 2016, as a Democrat. He famously switched parties the following year, doing so at a Donald Trump rally. Prior to his first run for governor, he had also been a registered independent.

His record in office has been decidedly conservative.

Last year, Justice signed a measure into law that prohibits almost all abortion in the state — making exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.

More recently, he signed a bill allowing West Virginians to get a concealed carry permit and to even take those concealed weapons onto college campuses.

On Thursday, he vowed to take equally conservative positions in the U.S. Senate.

As for the race he’d just entered: “Let the games begin,” he said.

Before Justice takes on Manchin, however, he will have to defeat primary opponent Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., who already has the backing of the influential Club for Growth.

But already there are signs the party is preparing to close ranks behind the governor.

Shortly after the announcement, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines, R-Mont., sent out an email blast endorsing the newly minted GOP candidate.

“Jim Justice is a proven winner whose record of creating jobs, cutting taxes and fighting for conservative values has made him one of the most popular governors in the country,” Daines said.

Manchin, a moderate who survived a tough reelection bid in 2018, has not yet said whether he is running for a third full term.

In a statement released Thursday he said he was “laser focused” on doing the job West Virginians elected him to do.

This includes, he said, “lowering health care costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, shoring up American energy security and getting our fiscal house in order.”

“But make no mistake, I will win any race I enter,” Manchin said.

That may be a tall order in 2024. Former President Trump won West Virginia by nearly 40 points in 2020.

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