No longer worried about defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III in a general election, Republicans cruising to victory in West Virginia could be the linchpin to retake the Senate majority.
The spotlight now shifts to the GOP primary, where conservative Rep. Alex Mooney is looking for a boost to close his double-digit deficit against the establishment-backed Gov. Jim Justice, who switched from Democrat to Republican in 2017.
“What this establishment was doing was pushing this nonsense that Jim Justice was a better general election candidate, and therefore you gotta go with the liberal Republican just so you can win against Manchin,” Mr. Mooney told The Washington Times in an interview. “Now that Manchin is out of the race, that excuse is gone.”
Beating Mr. Justice is still a tall order, even if the calculus of primary politics shifts in Mr. Mooney’s favor.
The governor is supported by Senate GOP leaders and has bested Mr. Mooney in polls by more than 30 points. He also has broader name recognition and is endorsed by Donald Trump in a state that went to the former president in 2020 by 40 points.
But Mr. Mooney is no stranger to pulling off an upset against a Republican opponent who more closely aligns with the establishment wing.
He ousted fellow GOP Rep. David McKinley in the 2022 primary when the men were pit against one another after West Virginia lost a congressional seat, though Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Mooney that go-around.
Mr. Mooney said he “respects and supports” Mr. Trump but disagrees with his backing of Mr. Justice.
“Over 30 Republican members of the House of Delegates have endorsed me over Jim Justice,” he said. “The actual Republicans know he’s a liberal.”
Mr. Justice’s campaign did not respond to a request to participate in this report.
Mr. Justice endorsed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief program in 2021, and he didn’t vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, when Mr. Justice was a Democrat. But he underwent a Trump-inspired flip in 2017 and is a prized recruit of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
“I don’t know how much, but there’s likely a shift there as the conversation goes more to conservative values and West Virginia values,” said Steven Roberts, treasurer of the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee, located in Mr. Mooney’s district. “It’s not so much an argument of who can beat Joe Manchin.”
Mr. Manchin revealed in November that he won’t seek reelection and has left the door open to a third-party independent presidential run.
Mr. Justice told The Times earlier this year that Mr. Mooney’s assertions he was not a true conservative were “just plain garbage.”
“I’m not being critical of Alex Mooney, I’m just telling you that nobody in this state knows Alex Mooney,” Mr. Justice said at the time.
If elected to the Senate, Mr. Mooney vowed to act as a conservative check on both parties.
He praised the confirmations of conservative judges and Supreme Court justices by Senate Republicans under the leadership of Mr. McConnell, but he said the party has fallen well short of curbing government spending and combating Mr. Biden’s agenda.
He declined to say whether he would support Mr. McConnell for another leadership term.
Mr. Mooney more bluntly stated his feelings toward Republican leaders in a recent campaign ad: “Leftist and fake Republicans created this mess.”
Senate Republicans’ campaign arm isn’t changing its calculus when it comes to supporting Mr. Justice. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is not expected to get financially involved in the primary, underscoring their confidence in Mr. Justice’s strong polling.
“We are looking for candidates who can not only win a primary, but a general election,” NRSC Chairman Steve Daines of Montana told The Times. “Gov. Justice has done a great job of serving West Virginia, and he’s in a very strong position.”
Mr. Mooney said it would be “outrageous and offensive” if the NRSC were to “waste donor dollars on a safe seat like this,” given the more than half-dozen competitive blue seats that Republicans must fight for.
A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Mr. Mooney is backed by more conservative groups and lawmakers, such as the Club for Growth and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah.
The conservative group Club for Growth has pledged to spend at least $10 million to buoy Mr. Mooney. The group is also airing anti-Trump ads across the U.S.
Mr. Mooney has raised $2.3 million this cycle and had $1.6 million cash on hand as of Sept. 30. Mr. Justice raised $1.5 million and had $1.2 million in the bank. Mr. Justice, a billionaire coal baron, has said he will not self-fund his campaign.
A recent TV ad from Club for Growth’s political action committee accused Mr. Justice of having “bankrolled” Democratic candidates, an attack that the governor’s campaign manager said was an attempt to “do whatever they can to deceive West Virginians.”
A pro-Justice ad from Conservative Americans PAC touted Mr. Trump backing “big Jim Justice” and said conservatives “can’t trust D.C. insiders like Maryland native Alex Mooney,” referencing criticism that the ex-Maryland legislator has spent less time in the state since entering West Virginia politics in 2014.
“Maryland Mooney is being backed by the same big-money D.C. club that opposed President Trump,” the ad said of Club for Growth.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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