West Virginia Republican Governor Jim Justice on Thursday launched his campaign to win incumbent Democratic senator Joe Manchin’s seat in 2024, kicking off what could be a competitive political fight between two of the increasingly-red state’s most prominent politicians.
Justice, whose second and final term as governor is coming to an end, made the announcement at a luxury resort he owns. A longtime moderate Democrat, Justice switched to the GOP in 2017 and has become one of the state’s most popular politicians, CNBC noted.
“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,” Justice told an audience of supporters.
Given West Virginia’s largely Republican makeup, the GOP has been eyeing Manchin’s seat for a while. He is one of three Democratic senators up for election in 2024 in states that former president Donald Trump won in 2020. Trump won West Virginia by nearly 40 points in 2020.
Manchin, a moderate Democrat who in recent years has regularly stonewalled his party’s efforts to kill the filibuster to advance federal abortion and voting rights legislation, among other measures, said he won’t share his intentions to run or not until closer to the end of the year.
“I am laser focused on doing the job West Virginians elected me to do – lowering healthcare costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, shoring up American energy security and getting our fiscal house in order,” Manchin said in a statement Thursday after Justice entered the race.
However, Manchin was defiant that it’s his seat to lose. “But make no mistake, I will win any race I enter,” he added. Manchin has increasingly been pushing back on his party’s leaders, threatening to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, and urging President Joe Biden to negotiate with House Republicans over the debt ceiling.
“Let the games begin,” he told reporters later Thursday, CNBC reported.
When Justice became a Republican, he signaled his backing of Trump, whom he has spoken to by phone in advance of declaring his Senate bid, NBC News reported. Other Republican leaders, such as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee Steve Daines and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, had been urging Justice to run, CNBC said.
“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 in a statement.