West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice won the state’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, emerging as the likely candidate to succeed retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-Va.) in the Senate.
Mr. Justice cruised to victory, defeating his primary rival, Rep. Alex Mooney (R-Va.), by a margin of 61.5% to 26.6%.
Several other Republican candidates individually failed to garner more than 3.1% of the vote.
“Thank you, the State of West Virginia, for your support and confidence in me,” the judge said. I wrote to X.
“I am truly humbled. I will continue to work hard every day to win in November, flip the Senate, and implement America First policies!” the two-term governor added.
Justice, 73, will face the winner of a three-way race between Democrat Glenn Elliott and the mayor of Wheeling, West Virginia. Zachary Shrewsbury, community organizer; Don Blankenship, former coal company CEO.
The Democratic Senate primary race was too close to counting as of 9 p.m. ET.
Justice, a former Democrat, announced he would join the Republican Party at a rally for former President Donald Trump in 2017.
Trump, 77, endorsed Justice’s 2024 Senate bid last October.
The popular West Virginia governor is a heavy favorite in the general election, and if the attorney general wins in November, the Republican Party will hold the seat currently held by centrist Manchin, who announced last November that he would not seek re-election. It will be possible to flip the seats that are currently in place.
Manchin is the only Democrat in West Virginia’s congressional delegation. He has represented the state in the Senate since 2010.
Trump won more than 68% of the vote in deep red states in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
Democrats currently hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, but must defend 23 seats this cycle, while Republicans must defend just 11.
Term-limited judges were not eligible to seek reelection for a third term in the West Virginia Governor’s Mansion.
His successor, Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, ran unopposed in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
In the Republican primary, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey faced off against Moore Capito, son of U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, but the race was inconclusive as of 10:15 p.m.
