Former President Donald Trump, still very popular in West Virginia, says Jim Justice “will be a Great UNITED STATES SENATOR, and he has my complete and total endorsement.”
Trump, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, made the endorsement today on his social media platform “Truth Social.”
“HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!!” Trump wrote of Justice.
Justice, who switched parties to become a Republican at a Trump rally in Huntington, already leads his primary race in fundraising and early polls but an endorsement from Trump could be a key to victory in increasingly red West Virginia.
Justice, a two-term governor, is facing Congressman Alex Mooney in the Republican primary for Senate. They are vying for the possibility of taking on incumbent Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who has not yet said whether he plans to run for re-election.
“I’m honored and thankful to be endorsed by President @realDonaldTrump. I’m the strongest Republican to win the U.S. Senate in West Virginia! My opponent is endorsed and supported by one of the largest anti-Trump Super PACs this election cycle,” Justice’s campaign wrote on the social media site X, formerly Twitter.
The reference to the anti-Trump super PAC is calling out Mooney’s support from the conservative Club for Growth, which has been pushing against Trump’s re-election bid.
Mooney said he respectfully disagrees with Trump’s endorsement of Justice.
“I support and respect President Trump but I disagree with this. I am the only proven conservative in this race that West Virginians deserve,” Mooney stated in a comment shared by his campaign.
Trump remains very popular in West Virginia, with political figures either hoping to receive an endorsement from the former president or endorsing Trump to make a connection.
He has twice won West Virginia by wide margins.
In 2016, Trump got 68.5 percent of the general election vote in West Virginia, to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 26.4 percent.
In 2020, Trump got 68.6 percent of West Virginia’s general election vote, to Biden’s 29.7 percent.
Justice, a businessman and resort owner who knows Trump personally, has consistently spoken fondly of him and offered his own endorsement to Trump in July.
Trump has been charged with 91 felony counts in four separate cases for allegedly mishandling classified information, obstructing justice, conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and falsifying business records in connection to hush money paid to an adult-film star.
Justice has continued to say Trump would be the best choice to resume the presidency.
“President Trump and his entire family have been treasured friends for a long time. The job he did as our president was truly amazing. His accomplishments are far too numerous to list,” Justice said tonight in a statement released by his campaign.
“It’s an incredible honor to have his endorsement and confidence in me. It seems like every day, we see the Biden administration falling all over itself. Those days are numbered, thank goodness. Soon, we will welcome the second term of President Donald J. Trump.”