Former President Donald Trump endorsed West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice in his bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin.
“Big Jim Justice, the Governor of the great State of West Virginia (I love West Virginia), is big in every way, but especially in his wonderful heart,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social Thursday. “Strong on the border, our great military and vets, clean coal and energy dominance, the economy, stopping inflation, and protecting our 2nd Amendment. Big Jim will be a great United States Senator and has my complete and total endorsement. He will never let you down.”
According to The New York Times, Republicans see West Virginia as a potential seat pick-up opportunity to help reclaim a majority in the Senate.
Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority in the upper chamber.
West Virginia is one of just three Senate races considered a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report, the other two being Arizona with independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and Democrati Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
According to Cook, 14 of the remaining 20 races are considered “solid” wins for the Democrats, and the other six likely to win or leaning to win for the party.
Justice, a popular two-term governor, announced his Senate bid in April and currently leads Manchin in recent polling by 12 percentage points, according to the national FiveThirtyEight website.
Republican West Virgina Rep. Alex Mooney, who is challenging Justice for the GOP nomination, currently trails Manchin by eight percentage points, according to the website.
Manchin has not yet said if he will run for office again but expects to make a decision by the end of the year, the Times report said.
Justice re-posted Trump’s endorsement, and said he is the only “American First” Republican candidate for the seat.
“I'm endorsed by Donald Trump,” he said in a post on social media platform X Wednesday. “I'm the only American First Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in West Virginia. I need your support to win this race.”
In addition to Trump, Justice has also won the endorsements of major GOP national players including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and fellow West Virginian Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Washington Examiner reports.
Justice was elected to office as a Democrat but switched parties in 2017.