Governor Jim Justice is expected to announce Thursday night that he is running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Joe Manchin. West Virginia Republican Congressman Alex Mooney and coal miner Chris Rose have already announced their candidacies.
To simplify things, here is how the leading candidates are going to try to frame their opponent: Justice will say that Mooney is really a Marylander who nobody in West Virginia really knows, while Mooney is going to say that Justice is a former Democrat and a liberal.
But here is what each of them would sacrifice a limb to be able to say: “Donald Trump endorses me.”
The backing of the former president is a coveted prize here. Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 42 points in 2016 and Joe Biden by 39 points in 2020. Trump remains popular in West Virginia today and is all but certain to carry the state if he wins the GOP nomination.
Trump could stay out of the race all together. But if Trump does endorse, Justice would seem to have the inside track. He developed a friendship with Trump while Trump was president, and each has made glowing comments about the other.
Trump was on the stage with Justice in Huntington in August 2018 when Justice announced his flip to the Republican Party. “Having Big Jim as a Republican is such an honor,” Trump said at the time.
When Justice asked Trump to speak at a military celebration during a PGA Tour event at the Greenbrier, Trump agreed. “Jim asked me to come,” Trump told the crowd. “He did switch from Democrat to Republican. You don’t see that often, so it’s hard for me to say, ‘no, I’m not coming’.”
When the subject of Trump comes up, Justice will mention the friendship between the two. Justice said of Trump in June 2019, “You have a president of the United States of America that truly has an attraction to West Virginia, and his attraction to West Virginia, contrary to anything you may think, is me. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. It’s just me.”
Justice also has a relationship with Don Junior. The younger Trump has come to West Virginia several times and hunted with Justice, and he appeared at a fund-raiser for the Governor in 2020.
Mooney’s relationship with Trump is not as personal, but he is an ardent supporter and defender of the former president, which contributed to Trump’s endorsement of Mooney in his 2022 primary race against David McKinley.
“Representative Alex Mooney has done an outstanding job as Congressman in West Virginia,” Trump said. “In fact, he recently opposed the horrendous Biden administration’s ‘Non-Infrastructure’ plan, and he opposed the January 6th Committee, also known as the Unselect Committee of partisan hacks and degenerates.”
Mooney is hoping for another endorsement. “I’m staying in touch with Trump. I mean, I believe my running for U.S. Senate is a continuation of his investment in me and his endorsement in my primary last time, and I’ve told him as much,” Mooney said on Talkline Monday.
Trump’s endorsements in the most competitive House and Senate races in 2022 fell short of expectations, causing some to suggest the Trump seal of approval had lost its clout. However, West Virginia remains Trump territory, and what the former president says—or does not say—will impact the U.S. Senate race here.