CHARLESTOWN, W.Va. — The mudslinging between West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney is pitting the Republican establishment against the conservative wing in the GOP’s bid to unseat one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats: Joe Manchin III.
Mr. Justice, the leading candidate and a former Democrat who underwent a Trump-inspired party flip in 2017, was the coveted recruit of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and is backed by his top deputies.
The governor’s pitch is blunt: His big lead in the polls means it’s either him as the Republican nominee, or Mr. Manchin — the conservative Democratic incumbent who has yet to determine his political future — cruising to reelection and likely keeping Democrats in control of the Senate.
“If I go out here tomorrow or today and get run over by a truck in the middle of the road, and Mooney is the candidate, Manchin will run for the Senate for absolute certainty because he would absolutely beat Mooney to death,” Mr. Justice told The Washington Times. “I’m not being critical of Alex Mooney. I’m just telling you that nobody in this state knows Alex Mooney.”
Mr. Mooney, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who’s backed by anti-tax group the Club for Growth, sells himself as the more pure GOP alternative. He called Mr. Justice nothing more than a “liberal Republican version of Joe Manchin.”
“This man is a tax-and-spend liberal,” Mr. Mooney told The Times. “He’s, frankly, not much different than Joe Manchin. The establishment wants somebody who will go along and get along with all this out-of-control spending.”
Mr. Mooney wants Senate Republicans in Washington to butt out of his primary and is refusing to step aside, despite polls showing Mr. Justice being better positioned to unseat Mr. Manchin.
“I think they’ve misjudged. And frankly, I’m a little disappointed,” Mr. Mooney said. “I’m the only proven conservative in this race. I’m the Trump candidate in this race.”
The Senate GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, declined to comment.
Mr. Manchin, a former Democratic governor of West Virginia, narrowly won reelection to the Senate in 2018 by fewer than 20,000 votes, or just 3.3 percentage points. His seat is key for Republicans as they look to flip control of the chamber.
While Mr. Manchin has yet to say whether he’ll seek another term or rule out a third-party presidential run, he’s threatened to become an independent and frequently lambasts President Biden despite previously supporting his agenda. As the 2024 election draws near, he’s positioning himself as a middle-of-the-road candidate, should he choose to run again.
A July survey from the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce showed Mr. Justice up 56% to Mr. Mooney’s 19% in the primary. An internal poll from a McConnell-aligned super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, in February showed Mr. Justice winning against Mr. Manchin 52% to 42% in a hypothetical match-up, and Mr. Mooney losing to Mr. Manchin by 40% to 55%. An East Carolina University poll from May had Mr. Justice up 22 points over Mr. Manchin, but Mr. Mooney roughly tied with Mr. Manchin.
“West Virginians trust Jim Justice,” Senate Leadership Fund spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said in a statement to The Times. “While Justice has delivered time and again for West Virginia, Joe Manchin and Democrats in Washington voted for a radical climate agenda that could kill 100,000 West Virginia jobs.”
Mr. Mooney has raised north of $2 million and had $1.5 million cash on hand as of the end of June, the most recent campaign filings available with the Federal Elections Commission. Club for Growth and the Protect Freedom PAC tied to GOP Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul are putting $13.5 million behind Mr. Moooney.
Mr. Justice has raised $935,000 and had less than $809,000 in the bank but will receive financial backing from the NRSC.
Mr. Manchin, despite his reelection uncertainty, has raised a whopping $10.5 million with nearly $10.8 million in cash on hand.
A billionaire coal baron who in the past has self-funded his campaign, Mr. Justice says he has no intentions of doing so this time. He’ll have his own set of weaknesses to overcome that aren’t related to money.
Mr. Justice endorsed Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus in 2021, putting him at odds with his party over the behemoth spending package. He didn’t vote for former President Donald Trump in 2016, when he was a Democrat, and he’s created enemies with Republicans in the state legislature over policy fights, resulting in roughly 30 state lawmakers endorsing Mr. Mooney.
“If the Republican [nominee] is someone that voters trust, I think the Republican would beat Joe Manchin,” said West Virginia state Sen. Patricia Rucker, who’s endorsed Mr. Mooney. “If they don’t, then I think Joe Manchin has the chance to beat the Republican.”
Mr. Mooney, in addition to his poor polling, suffers from a lack of name recognition statewide. He also is the subject of House Ethics Committee investigations for potentially violating federal law with the use of campaign funds for personal expenses and allegedly breaking House rules by improperly accepting a trip to Aruba. Mr. Mooney has denied any wrongdoing.
Neither man has earned the endorsement of Mr. Trump this time, despite both previously receiving his official stamp of approval in prior elections. The ex-president, should he choose to make an endorsement, could influence the hotly contested primary.
A spokesperson for Mr. Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Justice and Mr. Mooney laid bare their credentials for how conservative and closely aligned they are to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Mooney noted he’s been endorsed by conservatives such as Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. He also said the indictments against Mr. Trump could give him a boost, as the criminal charges have done for Mr. Trump in his presidential bid.
“Jim Justice didn’t even vote for President Trump in 2016. He ran as a Democrat,” Mr. Mooney said. “Trump won, and then he [Mr. Justice] kind of led with Trump after that for pragmatic purposes. But in principle, he was never with Donald Trump or anything conservative.”
Mr. Justice called those assertions “just plain garbage.”
“I strongly believe that President Trump will endorse me, but I won’t ask him to do that because that’s not my ‘plights,’” he said. “In my world, he’s the king. He’s got plenty of time to decide what he wants to do in regard to me.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.