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The new member: <\/b>Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-W.Va.)<\/p>\n

How they got here:<\/b> Justice, West Virginia\u2019s sitting governor, easily defeated Democrat Glenn Elliott by more than 40 percentage points to flip control of this Senate seat for Republicans. <\/p>\n

Inside the campaign: <\/b>Since announcing his Senate bid in April 2023, Justice was the heavy favorite for this key GOP flip opportunity. He easily dispatched Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) in the GOP primary by more than 35 percentage points.<\/p>\n

Justice is termed out as governor, making the Senate a tempting opportunity. His push got even easier when longtime Sen. Joe Manchin (I) announced he would not run for reelection. \u201cI will tell you just this, with all in me, you shook up the world, we shook up the world \u2026 and now the challenges are unbelievable with what\u2019s going on in D.C.,\u201d Justice said at his victory speech.<\/p>\n

The issues he\u2019ll focus on: <\/b>Justice has told reporters in West Virginia he hopes to nab spots on the Finance and Energy committees. He\u2019s been especially critical of the Biden administration for its policies on energy and the southern border, topics he\u2019s sure to focus on once a member of the Senate.<\/p>\n

One non-policy matter of interest will be Justice\u2019s attendance. People from both political parties detailed the governor\u2019s iffy attendance record in the state to POLITICO earlier this year<\/a>. Others fear health issues could complicate his participation in routine Senate business.<\/p>\n

Background:<\/b> Justice is one of the wealthier people in West Virginia, having inherited a coal mining company and owning the financially troubled Greenbrier luxury resort.<\/p>\n

He won election to the governor\u2019s office in 2016 as a Democrat but quickly reversed course and became a Republican less than seven months later. He easily won reelection in 2020 and has enjoyed high approval ratings throughout his tenure as governor.<\/p>\n

Campaign ad that caught our eye: <\/b>Justice encouraged folks to vote early<\/a> in the Senate race alongside his omnipresent pet dog, Babydog. \u201cBring it home for Babydog and I,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Fun fact: <\/b>Justice has been head coach of the girls basketball squad at Greenbrier East High School in Fairlea, West Virginia, since 2003, a position he\u2019s steadily maintained even while governor.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re spotlighting new members during the transition. Want more? <\/i>Meet Reps.-elect Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) and George Latimer (D-N.Y.)<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new member: Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) How they got here: Justice, West Virginia\u2019s sitting governor, easily defeated Democrat Glenn Elliott by more than 40 percentage points to flip control of this Senate seat for Republicans. Inside the campaign: Since announcing his Senate bid in April 2023, Justice was the heavy favorite for this key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}