Justice Expected To Make Senate Announcement

After months of speculation, Gov. Jim Justice is expected to announce his bid for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Joe Manchin later Thursday.

The Justice campaign has scheduled an announcement from The Greenbrier Resort that he owns with his family at 5 p.m. News reports indicate Justice has already filed his candidacy papers with the Federal Elections Commission.

Justice is term-limited and cannot run for a third term as governor. He ran for governor in 2016 as a Democrat but switched parties roughly six months into his first term at a rally held by former President Donald Trump in Huntington. 

Manchin has not announced whether or not he will run for a third term. He faced stiff opposition in his last election from Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, but Morrisey has declared his intention to run for governor. 

In deeply red West Virginia, political observers believe Manchin’s seat is in play to flip Republican, with the potential to shift control of the evenly divided chamber away from Democrats.

Republican U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney declared earlier this year that he was running for the seat. Mooney was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2014. 

Coal miner and self-described “ultra-MAGA” political outsider Chris Rose has also announced a run for the seat. 

A live stream of the Special Announcement will be available at:

• https://www.facebook.com/JimJusticeWV
• https://youtube.com/@JimJusticeWV