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RAVENSWOOD - U.S. Sen. Jim Justice has enjoyed being in the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, but the November midterm election could see control flipped to the Democratic Party - which could also speed up a decision whether to run once again for governor of West Virginia in 2028.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday following a visit to the Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood plant in Jackson County, Justice said he was still weeks away from making a decision to seek a third four-year term as governor after first announcing the possibility of a run in September on WV MetroNews Talkline.
"I’m not going to just dork around, tease people, jerk people around and everything because I’ve never been that way, so we’ll get to this decision real, real, real quickly and everything," said Justice, R-W.Va. "By real quick, I mean in the next very few weeks, and then we’ll go one way or the other."
Justice was elected to the Senate in the November 2024 general election, succeeding Joe Manchin, the Democrat-turned-independent three-term senator who declined to seek reelection. Justice was elected as governor in 2016 as a Democrat, switching to Republican his first year in office in 2017 at the urging of his friend, President Donald Trump. Justice was reelected in 2020.
Justice said he holds no ill will for current Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who is nearly two years into his first four-year term as the state’s chief executive, though the two have traded veiled barbs back and forth since the beginning of 2025, culminating with remarks on social media after the Justice family sold their majority share of the historic Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs to Kennedy Lewis Investment Management.
"I sure didn’t go off to D.C. thinking that this was the ultimate plan in any way," Justice said. "I want Patrick and all those to be really successful. I mean, why wouldn’t you want that? Why would you have gone through all that we went through to get (West Virginia) right on the rail and really going, and then root for bad stuff? There’s no way."
Yet Justice said he is being approached more and more by people who want to see him return to the governor’s desk and helm the state once again.
"A lot of people ask, and that’s a big-time honor for me," he said. "A lot of people are just being nice, but it’s still a big honor that they would ask. ... I’ve got to tell you just straight up as I could be. I love West Virginia and beyond good sense, and the people here are the greatest of the greatest of the greatest, and I’m so proud of them. I could just bust out at the seams everywhere. But at the same time, I really do love what I’m doing. It’s a big-time honor, but the honor of my life was being a governor. So, so we’ll see.”
Republicans hold 53 seats in the 100-member Senate, while Democrats hold 45 seats and two independents caucus with them. Political prognosticators, such as the Cook Political Report, consider U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a solid red seat. She is seeking her third six-year term, facing Democratic challenger Rachel Fetty Anderson, an attorney and former Morgantown City Council member.
However, The Cook Political Report lists an open North Carolina seat held by the retiring U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., as a likely Democratic pickup and six other GOP senate seats, two of which are open, as toss-ups.
While Trump is not on the ballot in November, political analysts have suggested many of his policies - such as tariffs, the war with Iran and affordability issues stemming from them - are creating an environment that could see both the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives flip to Democratic control next year, putting a near halt on the remainder of Trump’s agenda for the remaining two years of his term.
Justice said he has been trying to warn his Senate Republican colleagues about the concerns of everyday people who are paying more for goods, gasoline and electric at home.
"I was screaming at the top of my lungs. ‘You’ve got to wake up to what’s going on,'" he said. "People are genuinely hurting. Whether it be their power bills or food costs or medical bills or whatever it may be, they’re hurting. And now, the gas prices are really nailing (them). So, with all that being said, you’ve got to be in tune with (the people), talk to them, and tell them what’s going on."
Justice said congressional Republicans have not done a good job of messaging the good things that have been accomplished by Trump and the Republican majorities in the Senate and House, allowing Democratic candidates to fill that vacuum with disinformation.
"What we’ve done as Republicans, and what the president’s done, in my book, is phenomenal. Compared to where we were, when we walked in on day one, it’s phenomenal," he said. "We have been terrible about marketing ourselves. The Democrats are fabulous at playing a hand that doesn’t have hardly anything in it.
"Now you got Republicans scrambling like crazy," Justice continued. "Could it happen that we could lose the House? In my opinion, it’s probably now almost 100% you’ll lose (the) House. Could it happen that you’re going to lose the Senate? You're dadgum right it can happen."