Don’t get me wrong, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to see the Democrats completely decimated in West Virginia, and holding onto the governor’s mansion is probably the best way to sustain Team Blue’s pulse, but I just can’t get with this:
On Tuesday, coal billionaire Jim Justice convincingly defeated ex-U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler in the Democratic primary. Justice, who is the wealthiest man in West Virginia, decisively outspent his opponents, though while he did some self-funding, he didn’t used his personal resources to flood the airwaves the same way other rich candidates have in other states.
Justice will now face state Senate President Bill Cole, who had no opposition in the Republican primary. A pair of recent polls show Justice with clear leads against Cole, though we’re still operating with limited data. However, Team Blue can take absolutely nothing for granted here in the fall. While Democrats have held the governorship since 2001, this conservative state has been trending Republican, especially during the Obama administration. In 2014, the GOP seized control of both chambers of the legislature for the first time since the Great Depression, and they also ended the Democrats’ generations-long hold over the 3rd Congressional District while easily taking an open U.S. Senate seat. Cole and national Republicans will work hard to complete West Virginia’s transformation from conservative Democratic bastion to Republican stronghold.
Cole and his allies at the Republican Governors Association also will have some material to hit Justice with. Justice has a history of late-fees and safety violations at his coalmines. In December of 2014, Justice was also caught on video berating the police officer who pulled him over for speeding. Justice’s Democratic foes didn’t have the resources to attack him over these issues in earnest, but the GOP is unlikely to have that problem. The good news for Democrats is that Justice can essentially spend as much money as he wants to get his message out. Daily Kos Elections rates the general election as Lean Republican.
I’m not an anti-coal absolutist in the sense that I expect West Virginia Democrats to sacrifice everything they care about on the altar of shunning coal, especially when I know that that would render them extinct in the short term. And I’d prefer candidates who aren’t the richest people in the state, but I can tolerate a self-funder every once in a while.
But a guy who has a bad record on mine safety and berates cops is not someone I’m going to support even when I agree with them on most issues.
Sorry, but that’s a bridge too far for me.