After a back-and-forth against community organizer Zach Shrewsbury and according to 41 of 55 counties, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott received about 45% of the vote Tuesday in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and will face Gov. in November. Jim Justice for the congressional seat soon to be vacated by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-Wa.
Justice handily won the Republican nomination over Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., with nearly 62% of votes cast to Mooney’s 27% as of 11 p.m.
In the Democratic primary, Shrewsbury – who campaigned largely as a political outsider – received 36% of the vote, while former coal executive Don Blankenship received 18% of the vote as of 11 p.m
Elliott, a lawyer by profession who has served as mayor of Wheeling since 2016, said he is looking forward to the general election campaign and hopes it will be used as a unifying force for Democrats.
“Of course it feels good to win, but the reality is that I will wake up tomorrow morning over 35 points behind in the polls. So the reality is the hard part starts tomorrow,” Elliott said in an interview Tuesday night.
Justice is heavily favored to secure the seat, and while Elliott sees the uphill battle ahead, he said he plans to travel the state during the campaign and speak to West Virginians about “the real issues” in their lives instead of talking about culture war topics, which have largely dominated the Republicans’ discussion topics at almost all levels in this election campaign.
He predicted his biggest challenge will likely be getting West Virginians familiar with him. His best primary results came in the northern panhandle, where residents of Wheeling and surrounding areas have watched him serve as mayor for the past eight years.
Elliott praised the efforts of the Shrewsbury campaign, which he said ran a tough race for the nomination. While campaigning for general, Elliott said he hoped the state’s various factions of Democrats would work together to secure a victory.
“It is imperative that Democrats stand together heading into this general election,” Elliott said. “I think our differences are nowhere near as big as they are often portrayed in a campaign, I think they are minor. I understand that some people want to go further on some issues, but look at where the Republicans are.”
Justice has been governor since 2016, when he was elected as a Democrat with the support of Manchin, whose congressional seat he was expected to take with a immense majority in the general election.
In 2017, Justice announced his switch to the Republican Party while standing on stage at a campaign rally in Huntington for his “good friend,” former President Donald Trump, whom he said Tuesday he “hopes and prays” that he wins the election in November.
Since switching parties, Justice has fully embraced the right side of the aisle, regularly criticizing President Joe Biden and his administration for their “wokeness,” as he said in his remarks Tuesday.
The justices are staunchly anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-coal, and strongly opposed to proposed climate action measures designed to mitigate the very real harm of climate change.
After winning the nomination Tuesday, Justice said if elected in November he wouldn’t go to D.C. to “just go there and be a part of it.” [Republican] Party.”
“I’m going there to shake up the world,” he said.
When asked how he would go about it, Justice listed how he believes the administration is going in the “wrong direction,” particularly when it comes to energy policy and the southern border.
Under Justice’s leadership, problems continued in the state of West Virginia. The state is currently in a state of emergency educational challenges and problems in his beleaguered prison system (two of which have been disclosed since he took office). There is a ongoing There is a shortage of both workers and positions to support the state’s thousands of foster children. Health care for the state’s residents remains among the worst in the country. Infrastructure problems also remain, with thousands of West Virginians still living Access not possible tidy drinking water in their homes. Those who can – and even some who can’t – pay part of it highest supply prices in the nation.
As governor, Justice was criticized for a lack of transparency from his administration and for largely staying away from the state capital, choosing to drive to work from his home in Greenbrier County rather than live in Charleston on the days he appeared mandated in the state constitution. He regularly struggles with punctuality, sometimes starting press conferences an hour after scheduled start times.
When asked by West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Randy Yohe, when he sees this fight impacting his service on the Hill – where being slow means missing vital votes – he said: “I can tell you that if there is a vote There is something that needs to be done at a certain point in time.”, somehow or some way I always manage to do it.” As governor, the judiciary does not vote on laws.
justice has saidif he is elected to the Senate, he must undertake the exercise of office in “[his] Style.” He plans to continue coaching girls basketball at Greenbrier East High School March“I hate to say it, but I will do the job as senator if that works out, but I will train.”
In recent years, Justice’s family business empire – in which he says he no longer has a stake, although the companies and holdings are listed as assets in financial reports and he has refused to place most companies in a blind trust while he is involved – has weakened also had problemscomes under fire for millions in unpaid taxes, security fines and more.
On Tuesday, he said his family – which he said runs the business – is meeting all financial obligations but acknowledged it is “probably a little behind” on several payments.
Asked whether he would willingly place his companies in a blind trust if elected in November, he replied: “Probably not.”
“My kids are doing a good job,” he said, but if they wanted to ask him for advice on business decisions, he wanted to be able to contribute, he continued.
