EXCLUSIVE — Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) thinks Republicans made a mistake undercutting President Joe Biden now that he has decided to stand aside as the 2024 Democratic nominee .
But at the same time, Justice, 73, remains confident working-class voters, including those who call his state of West Virginia home, will not cast a ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris this November.
"I don't know why that the Republicans kept pushing so hard to get President Biden out of the way," Justice told the Washington Examiner. "I mean, he was the gift that just kept on giving. Why in the world did we push so bloomin' hard for him to go?"
"Now what you've got is you've got a reinvigorated Democrat Party and, money, and money, and more money," he said. "And you've got a candidate that, in a lot of ways, fits the bill in a lot of different areas, and everything, that can possibly make things even more difficult."
Since Biden announced two weeks ago that he was stepping down as the Democratic nominee and endorsing Harris, the Harris campaign has disclosed raising $310 million last month , compared to Republican opponent former President Donald Trump 's $139 million. Harris's fundraising erases Trump's cash-on-hand advantage, though he maintains his structural Electoral College edge.
Harris has also closed the polling gap , with she and Trump statistically tied nationwide , according to RealClearPolitics. Trump had a 3-point lead over Biden.
"I think it'll be tougher now," Justice said.
Harris's rise coincides with Sen. J.D. Vance 's (R-OH) unsteady roll-out as Trump's vice presidential nominee. Democrats, for example, have amplified comments he made in 2021 that Harris and other Democrats were "a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives."
"This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-children," Vance told Fox News The Megyn Kelly Show in his own defense.
Although he described himself as being "very supportive" of Trump's pick, Justice, who has been governor since 2017, would have tapped former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson instead.
"If something were to happen, and God forbid, it almost happened the other day, to our president, somebody's got to take over," he said.
In an interview days after West Virginia's other dominant political personality, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), was rumored to be considering re-registering as a Democrat so he could replace Biden, Justice contended, "Manchin wants to stay in the spotlight." The deadline passed this week for Manchin, who announced last year he would not seek reelection for the Senate as he stoked speculation of a presidential bid, to file paperwork as an independent candidate so he could run to keep his seat.
Term-limited Justice will likely replace Manchin in the Senate after winning the Republican primary against Rep Alex Mooney (R-WV) in May. Justice will face Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott, a Democrat, in the fall, but is expected to become the first Republican to hold the seat since 1956.
"He knew he couldn't beat me," Justice said of Manchin. "If he had gotten beaten, he loses the spotlight. At the end of the day, on top of all that, I do think they think that I'll be a critical vote and hope that the Republicans win several seats. But you know, it could get more difficult now."
"Joe is a, you know, in some ways, he's a friend," he added.
During the first two years of Biden's administration, Manchin had an outsized importance in an evenly-divided Senate, alongside Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), who has since similarly de-registered from the Democratic Party and is not seeking reelection. Democrats would have to win the Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin Senate races, as well as the White House, to retain control of the Senate.
Justice argued he will be "an asset" to the Senate, particularly if Harris wins in three months time and plans to continue Biden's policies regarding inflation , crime , and the "weaponization of the federal government."
"[If] you could very well be the vote to flip the Senate and get this nation maybe, just maybe on the right path, would you do it? You'd probably say, 'Yeah, I'd step up. I'd do it,'" he said. "I'll do a good job to really do everything I possibly can to try to help get this nation on the right foot."
Justice reiterated his answer, regardless of allegations concerning his family businesses's debts and unpaid mining fines of reportedly more than $300 million becoming a campaign issue. In addition to agriculture and mining businesses, Justice's family, own luxury five-star resort, the Greenbrier Hotel, which this week was put up for auction because of their debts.
"You have bumps in the road and in your businesses, and everything, and then everybody jumps up and says, 'Well, what about this? What about this? What about this? And then at the end of the day I tell people just calm down for crying out loud," he said before the auction notice became public. "From time to time, we may be late on something or stub our toe and everything as a family, I mean, that happens. But at the end of the day, I think we celebrate thousands of employees employed."
Last month, Justice addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee , but it was his English bulldog, Babydog, who received louder applause when she accompanied him onstage at the Fiserv Forum.
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For Justice, who had Babydog at his feet for the interview and asked an aide to lift her up onto his lap at the end, the response was not a surprise.
"When you get out of the car and the Secret Service says, 'I want a picture with Babydog," he said, recalling one interaction. "Then later on, when we had to get Babydog to some grass where she could pee, the Secret Service said, 'Hold on, stop the traffic.' And they stopped the traffic and let her go across the road and everything. So, it's good. It's good stuff. It makes us smile and makes us happy, and why not be that way? This journey's tough enough."
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