Reporter's Notebook: A Trump card to play | News, Sports, Jobs – Parkersburg News
Oct 23, 2023
In the game of poker that is the 2024 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Gov. Jim Justice was finally able to play his Trump card, literally.
The Trump card I speak of is the man himself, former Republican president Donald Trump, who announced on his own social media platform last week that he endorses Justice in the GOP primary over his rivals, including Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va.
Whatever one may think of Trump, there is simply no denying Trump’s continued popularity in West Virginia. The annual West Virginia Poll showed Trump losing a few points between this year and last year, but not enough to come close to putting him underwater with West Virginia voters.
According to a poll released last week by Emerson College, 59% of likely voters in West Virginia said they would choose Trump in a hypothetical general election in 2024, while 23% said they would choose President Joe Biden, the most likely Democratic candidate. When asked if anything could change their mind on supporting Trump, 58% said they couldn’t think of anything Trump could do or say to change their minds.
Trump has been indicted several times in state and federal courts prior to when this poll was conducted at the beginning of October. So, if those indictments are not going to phase voters in the state, then I’m not sure what could.
Justice and Trump are friends and both share a parallel political history. It has always been understood that Democratic kingmakers chose Justice in 2016 because of his similarities to Trump. Both were billionaires (at the time) who were charismatic and had a habit of saying what was on their mind. Trump had Trump Tower. Justice had the Greenbrier Resort.
It’s long been known that Sen. Joe Manchin recruited Justice to run in 2016. Justice was a Republican prior to that, but he switched to Democrat to run, beating former Senate President Jeff Kessler, whom I worked for from 2013 to 2015, and former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin, both with long-time Democratic bona fides. Then Justice beat former Republican Senate President Bill Cole, whom I worked for from 2015 to 2017.
But after winning election and taking office in 2017, Justice immediately ran into issues with Democratic lawmakers on legislative items. Six months later, Justice decided it was time to return to his roots. At the urging of Trump, Justice announced he was returning to the Republican Party at a rally with Trump in Huntington that summer.
Justice and the Trump family remain close. Justice and Donald Trump Jr. have gone hunting together. Justice seems to be one of the few people who can openly criticize Trump without Trump taking it personally. Justice was known to differ with Trump policy during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it never seemed to cause any blowback. While Justice has spoken out about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters trying to stop the certification of the 2020 election after Trump lost to Biden, Justice was never critical of Trump during that time.
Of course, Mooney is also a vocal Trump supporter and had Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District over former 1st District Rep. David McKinley. Trump participated in a tele-town hall with Mooney that spring and Mooney attended a Trump rally in Pennsylvania with other Trump-endorsed candidates.
But Trump didn’t endorse Mooney because he likes Mooney or even knows who Mooney is. Trump endorsed Mooney because he was mad at McKinley. Despite talking for years about an infrastructure bill, Trump never did anything. Biden negotiated the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 with Manchin and U.S. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.
Out of the three Republican members of the House representing West Virginia at the time, McKinley was the only one to vote yes and only one of 13 Republican House members to do so, helping the bill get to Biden’s desk for signature. Trump was not happy about that. Trump was also not happy with McKinley for supporting an independent commission to investigate Jan. 6. Nevermind the fact that McKinley had a better pro-Trump voting record than Mooney at the time.
It’s been reported by CNN that Mooney tried at least twice to go to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida to try to get a Trump endorsement in the Senate race. Mooney reportedly said Trump was unwilling to endorse him, citing Justice’s loyalty and willingness to switch parties by his side back in 2017. While it wasn’t clear earlier this summer whether Trump would endorse at all, it was clear he wasn’t endorsing Mooney.
Of course, a Trump endorsement doesn’t mean instant victory. Just ask Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Despite Trump surrogates coming to the state and Trump himself coming three times in 2018 to stump for Morrisey’s race for Senate against Manchin, Morrisey lost to Manchin by 3 points.
Sources tell me the Trump endorsement came because of a possible coming announcement from Manchin about whether he intends to seek re-election to the Senate, whether he plans to switch from Democrat to independent or whether he plans to make a third-party run for president. Justice supporters would like to scare Manchin into retirement and all the polls I’ve seen have Manchin losing to Justice whether Manchin runs as a Democrat or independent.
But with the Trump card now played, the 2024 Senate race is Justice’s to either lose or win.
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