It was never in doubt, and now it’s official—the GOP is projected to flip a Senate seat in dark red West Virginia that was long held by the Democrats.
The Fox News Decision Desk has projected that Republican Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia will defeat the Democrat Party’s nominee—Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott.
Justice, a billionaire businessman and coal mining magnate who owns the luxury Greebriar Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, will succeed Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor and longtime Democrat who switched to being an independent in May after being at loggerheads with national Democrats for years.
After Manchin announced last year that he wouldn’t seek re-election in a one-time Democrat-leaning state that then-President Trump won by nearly 40 points in the 2020 election, political pundits pointed to an extremely likely pickup by Republicans as they aimed to win back the Senate majority at the ballot box this year.
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Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) leaves the U.S. Capitol on July 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)
With Justice’s victory, Republicans will control both of West Virginia’s two Senate seats for the first time in nearly a century.
Justice, with the support of Trump, easily defeated conservative Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., in a contentious GOP primary earlier this year. Elliot, who had the backing of Manchin, won a three-way battle for the Democrat Party nomination.
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The governor this year grabbed national attention for BabyDog Justice, his English bulldog who has regularly accompanied Justice at public and political engagements.
And Babydog stole the show, as Justice’s pet appeared with the governor as he spoke during the second night of the Republican National Convention, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July.
Babydog Justice was given her own seat on stage at the Republican National Convention, on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images)
Justice ran for West Virginia governor as a Democrat in 2016, winning by single digits. He re-registered as a Republican the next year after holding a rally with then-President Donald Trump, and he overwhelmingly won re-election in 2020. Justice was term-limited from seeking re-election as governor this year.
Manchin, known as a centrist or moderate Democrat, was elected governor in 2004 and easily re-elected in 2008.
The governor won a 2010 special election to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of longtime Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd. He won a full term in 2012 and narrowly won re-election again in 2018.