Report: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice Prepares to Give Joe Manchin Nightmares

We’ve previously reported on how Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has been running away from President Joe Biden as fast as he can, including by way of wreaking havoc on some of Biden’s cabinet nominees and even threatening to sue the Biden administration “if they don’t implement the revised electric vehicle tax credit” from the bogusly-named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) “as he believes they agreed to do.”

The reason he’ll tell people he’s doing this is that he wants the Biden administration and Senate Democrats to live up to what they allegedly promised him when he caved on the Inflation Reduction Act. But in reality, he’s doing it because he sees the writing on the wall regarding his reelection chances, and wants his state’s voters to forget how he got played by Joe Biden and Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Adding to Manchin’s problems are the reports that the Republican who could perhaps be his biggest rival in the 2024 Senate race should Manchin decide to run again is preparing to officially announce his candidacy later this week:

Gov. Jim Justice is planning to launch a long-awaited campaign against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) next week, handing Republicans a well-funded and popular recruit in their best opportunity to flip a Senate seat.

He will make his announcement on Thursday evening at The Greenbrier, his luxury resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., according to an invitation to the event obtained by POLITICO. A GOP strategist close to Justice confirmed the details. Thursday is also the governor’s 72nd birthday.

As I’ve noted before, if Manchin does choose to run for reelection, the odds would be against him winning another term, not just because of low polling but also because Manchin would face another strong general election fight regardless of who his opponent turns out to be.

Not only is the state getting redder by the day, but Manchin only narrowly won by three percentage points in 2018 over his Republican opponent by 19,000 votes in an election where the Libertarian candidate got 24,000 votes.

So whether he faces off against Justice, a former Democrat turned Republican who has deep pockets and who has been chummy with former President Donald Trump, or Rep. Alex Mooney, who announced his run last November and who is also said to be seeking Trump’s endorsement, Manchin has an uphill battle ahead of him.

Manchin said in a prior interview that he would not announce his intentions for 2024 until the end of the year. Obviously, in waiting until later in the year to do so, Manchin is trying to give himself time to cover his tracks, likely with the thought in mind that voters have short attention spans.

But he’s got a lot going against him even if they do, as evidenced by the panic on display in the below clips – including the fact that Justice is polling better than Manchin among Democrats in West Virginia. So unfortunately for Manchin, his tapdancing away from Joe Biden may be too little, too late.

Senator Joe Manchin voted for the "Inflation Reduction Act."

Now, he's PISSED about how it's been implemented.

"I am SO UPSET about this because they're doing everything they can to BUST THE BUDGET, what we PROMISED the American people what it would cost!" pic.twitter.com/doV2dzYhhB

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 20, 2023

Senator Joe Manchin, who voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, tells Energy Secretary Granholm that he's "not proud of is…that we're not staying within the guidelines of what the CBO score was…"

"I'm trying to make sure that we don't dupe or scam the American public!" pic.twitter.com/ZV44Ivjt1y

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 20, 2023

As it turns out, the chickens are coming home to roost for Joe Manchin, bless his heart. And his myriad problems are something not even a party switch could fix.