Justice Declines Debating Elliott In US Senate Race

Gov. Jim Justice has declined to debate former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, his Democratic opponent in the race for U.S. Senate.

“The people of this state know me,” Justice said during a virtual press briefing Thursday. “They know me and they know me really well.”

Justice said he has done “almost zero campaigning” for the race. He is the current frontrunner for the seat in a heavily red state.

“The race is over,” he said. “You know, we’re going to win the race.”

Justice’s refusal comes after Republican nominee and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey agreed to debate Democratic nominee and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams in the state’s gubernatorial race.

Elliott said he would be willing to debate Justice in a statement to West Virginia Public Broadcasting following Justice’s Thursday briefing.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Jim Justice has no interest in debating me,” Elliott said. “Frankly, he has shown very little interest in actually being governor, giving me no reason to believe his tenure as senator would be much different.”

However, both candidates responded to issue-based questions from Morgantown newspaper The Dominion Post in an article posted on Tuesday.

During his Thursday briefing, Justice referred to the Post’s interview as a “little debate.” While the two candidates were on the same Zoom call, they did not directly respond to each other.

The newspaper’s candidate Zoom invitations and interview rules use different terminology, describing the questions as “an interview, not a debate.”