West Virginians are sending Jim Justice, a Republican businessman and two-term governor, to the U.S. Senate.
Decision Desk HQ, Fox News and others called the race as soon as the polls closed.
Justice had pitched to voters that he could be the guy to flip the Senate, where Democrats have had a functional 51-49 majority.
“You may say why in the world would you do this? Have you lost your mind? That’s probably a good assumption,” Justice said from The Greenbrier Hotel.
But, he said, “At the end of the day, yeah, I’m willing.”
He added, “I want to shake up the world.”
Joe Manchin, formerly a Democrat and now an independent, decided not to run for reelection in increasingly Republican-leaning West Virginia this year. So the seat is open and most national pundits have said for months that the seat would be likely to swing to a Republican.
Manchin is leaving the Senate seat after first being elected in 2010. In recent years, the centrist Manchin has been a key swing vote.
Justice, the Republican nominee, was running against former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, a Democrat.
Justice had support from the Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate, including Mitch McConnell.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who will be Justice’s counterpart, issued a statement congratulating him.
“I welcome my new partner in Washington, D.C., Senator-elect Jim Justice, and look forward to working with him for our fellow citizens.”
Justice is a two-term governor who first won that office as a Democrat in 2016. He switched parties in 2017 at a rally for then-President Donald Trump, citing his close relationship with Trump and saying he could accomplish more as a Republican. Trump announced an endorsement for Justice months ago.
Justice’s family owns West Virginia’s famed Greenbrier Hotel, and the family business network includes coal, timber and agriculture holdings. Justice made his early reputation as a “business guy” who could “buzz the numbers.” The businesses have been under significant and widely discussed financial pressure, but that hasn’t affected Justice’s electoral position.
The most recent MetroNews West Virginia Poll showed that Justice is one of the most popular, well-known political figures in the state with 57% regarding him favorably and 32% unfavorably.
The poll showed Justice’s job approval, registering at 65%, at its highest level ever.
The poll released in August showed Justice leading Elliott by a wide margin, 62% to 28%, in the race for U.S. Senate. The remainder preferred another candidate or were not sure.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Justice expressed significant confidence about the Senate race results. He didn’t campaign much for that race, but instead campaigned for Trump in states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia.
“I don’t want to say this in an egotistical way,” Justice told reporters in September. “In the primary, I never put a sign out. Think about this for a second. I didn’t put one single sign up, and I won by 35-plus points. The people of this state know me. They know me, and they know me really well. I have done almost zero campaigning.
“From the Senate race standpoint and everything, the Senate race is over. We’re going to win the race, and we’re going to win the race going away.”
In the Senate, Justice has said several times that he thinks he would be best fit on the Finance Committee or the Energy Committee.
“I’m a business guy. I’ve said it over and over and over, have I not? It’s never really mattered to me whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. I think first and foremost we’re Americans. And what is my expertise? My expertise has always been the numbers. I can buzz the numbers like crazy, and I can do it really quickly — and really and truly, I don’t know how I could be in a better place than on the Finance Committee,” Justice said at a briefing last week.
“But, just to tell it like it is, probably that committee is sought after in a big way and who knows. I mean, you know, you’re a freshman senator and so getting on that committee may not happen. From another standpoint, what am I the best at? For crying out loud, I surely know a ton about energy do I not? And in this state absolutely we need representatives because we need a national energy policy so bad it’s off the chart.”