West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) is expected to announce his bid for U.S. Senate on Thursday, setting up the possibility of a marquee race in 2024 against Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) in a state that Republicans view as one of their best pickup opportunities.
Justice previewed a “special announcement” planned for Thursday at a West Virginia resort in an advisory sent to the media Wednesday. Although the advisory makes no mention of the Senate race, it notes that the announcement will be streamed live on a YouTube channel set up by the group Jim Justice for U.S. Senate.
Manchin, 75, one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, has not said whether he will run for reelection in a state that Donald Trump won by nearly 39 percentage points in 2020. But Manchin has been highly critical of President Biden on several fronts in recent months, a posture consistent with the potential pursuit of another term in his red state.
That split was evident Wednesday. Manchin broke with Biden and sided with Republicans on the administration’s emissions-reduction rule for trucks, signaling that he would vote to overturn the rule despite the threat of a Biden veto.
The White House said the rule “amends the heavy-duty emission control program — including the standards, test procedures, and other requirements — to further reduce the air quality impacts of heavy-duty engines.”
Manchin said in a statement that the administration “wants to burden the trucking industry with oppressive regulations that will increase prices by thousands of dollars and push truck drivers and small trucking companies out of business” and complained of “government overreach.”
Manchin, who has said he would decide by the end of the year on a bid for a third full term, raised only about $370,000 in the first quarter of the year but is sitting on $9.7 million cash on hand if he decides to run.
Justice, who turns 72 on Thursday, would first have to win a primary against Rep. Alex Mooney (R), for whom the conservative Club for Growth has pledged to spend at least $10 million.
Justice, a coal mining billionaire who can spend millions on his race, was first elected governor as a Democrat in 2016. He announced his party switch at a 2017 rally in Huntington, W.Va., staged by Trump, who was president at the time.
“I can’t help you anymore being a Democrat governor,” Justice told Trump’s crowd. “So tomorrow I will be changing my registration to Republican.”
Both Justice and Mooney are expected to seek Trump’s endorsement in the Senate race.
The advisory for the event Thursday at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, says Justice will be joined by Babydog, his English bulldog, who has made frequent appearances with the governor. That included the State of the State address last year, during which Justice displayed the dog’s rear end and said critics of his governorship could kiss Babydog’s “hiney.”
Democrats control the Senate, 51-49, but the map is favorable to Republicans in 2024.
Twenty-three members of the Democratic caucus are up for reelection, compared with 11 Republicans. Besides West Virginia, the swing and GOP-friendly states that Democrats will be defending include Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In 2020, Republicans failed to recruit popular GOP governors to run for Senate in Arizona, New Hampshire and Maryland — all losses for their party in the general election. Having Justice run would be a major advantage for the party in a heavily Republican state.
Manchin’s recent criticism of Biden included a Wall Street Journal op-ed published late last month in which he castigated the president for refusing to sit down with “fiscally minded” Republicans to negotiate over the nation’s debt limit and accused him of allowing “unelected ideologues” in his administration to thwart the will of Congress on energy policy.
During an appearance this week on Fox News, Manchin threatened to help repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation that he helped write and that Biden signed with great fanfare. Manchin has also been silent on whether he will support Biden’s nominee for labor secretary, Julie Su.