CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Greenbrier Resort owner Jim Justice says he doesn’t need a salary to become the Governor of West Virginia. He said, if anything, he’ll “take $1.”
Justice made those comments after he won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s Primary Election.
“I absolutely don’t need the ego or the status. All I need, really, is one thing and that is for the world to see genuinely how good we really are,” Justice said in his victory speech after defeating former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler.
Goodwin made sure to thank his supporters on a campaign, he said, was never about him.
“It was always about the future of West Virginia as a state where my children and your children and our grandchildren will be able to and want to stay,” Goodwin said Tuesday night.
A passion to move the state forward is what lead Goodwin to run for Governor, he said, and he’s glad that West Virginians still have faith in future change.
“The sun may not always continue to shine in West Virginia, but the people always do. I will continue to stand alongside you, work to make this a better state not for the next election, but for the next generation,” Goodwin said. “The result is not what we hoped, but what a ride.”
In a statement, Kessler said “it has been a great run” after traveling the state during his campaign.
“I have enjoyed meeting people around the state and I thank them for opening their hearts and homes to me. It’s been an honor serving the people of my district and all West Virginians through my work in the West Virginia Senate,” he said in the statement.
Kessler has no plans to return to the state Senate after serving 19 years. He did, however, say he wants to continue to be active in the community.
“Our focus now needs to be on diversifying West Virginia’s economy,” he added. “I look forward to being involved in the policy discussions on the future of West Virginia.”
The Republican nomination went to state Senate President Bill Cole, who ran unopposed, in Tuesday’s Primary.
Much of what Justice discussed in his speech is that fact that he’s not a politician and that he can bring good paying jobs to the Mountain State.
“I’m not a politician. I’m a business guy that loves our state and loves you,” he said. “Do you want a politician or do you want someone who can really make it happen?”
Justice promised citizens that, if elected, he would “take this state where it’s never been before.”
“I’ll give you everything I have with every fiber of my body to take you not from 50th to 47th or 45th. That doesn’t interest me at all,” he said. “I want to take you from 50th to 1st.”