West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice will win Republican nomination for Manchin’s seat, CNN projects

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice will win the state’s Republican US Senate primary, CNN projects, positioning the two-term governor as the clear favorite to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in the deep-red state.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice will win the state’s Republican US Senate primary, CNN projects, positioning the two-term governor as the clear favorite to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in the deep-red state. Justice is projected to win a crowded GOP primary that included US Rep. Alex Mooney, a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus. He will face the winner of a three-way Democratic primary. The West Virginia Senate seat has long been seen as the most likely to flip this cycle and will be key to GOP hopes of winning the Senate this November. Manchin’s decision to retire was a harsh blow to Democrats’ hopes of retaining their narrow majority in the chamber. The party is also defending seats in two other GOP-leaning states, Montana and Ohio, as well as in swing states such as Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. National Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, largely coalesced in the West Virginia Republican primary around Justice, who was barred by term limits from seeking reelection as governor. Still, in the closing weeks, the Senate contest turned bitter as Justice and Mooney traded sharp jabs on air. Mooney launched blistering spots accusing Justice of supporting “pro-transgender legislation” and claiming that he “pushed the biggest tax hike in West Virginia history.” Meanwhile, Justice, the owner of the Greenbrier resort who turned a coal mining business he inherited into a sprawling empire, rebutted some of Mooney’s criticism with testimonials in his ads from West Virginia coal miners. He also ran spots touting Trump’s endorsement and mocking “Mooney and many others” who “want to cling to Trump’s coattail.”