Weekly West Virginia “Battle Royale” Senate Primary Update

Attacks over loyalty to Trump, outside spending heating up, more endorsements for Mooney, Justice’s millions in mine safety fine debt, and name-calling: here’s what you might have missed this week in West Virginia’s “messy,” “costly,” and “bruising” GOP primary.

• Alex Mooney and Jim Justice continue to attack each other over their loyalties to Donald Trump: Mooney — with his “back[ing] by the Club for Growth and Trump allies such as Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz” — accused Justice of being “a Democrat disguised as a Republican” who “didn’t even vote for President Trump in 2016,” and Mooney’s campaign manager called Justice part of the “big-spending D.C. swamp uniparty.”Justice struck back, calling Mooney’s attacks “just plain garbage” and “tout[ing] his close ties to the Trump family.”

• Mooney accused Justice of putting West Virginians last, “abandon[ing] his job as governor,” and leaving “West Virginians behind to save his own skin,” citing a recent op-ed claiming Justice has “give[n] up on his day job of governor” and is instead focused on “his interests, his businesses, that do not concern the people of West Virginia.” 

• Outside spending promises to heat up: a spokesman for the Club for Growth Action said its political arm has already raised around $14 million and will spend “whatever it takes” to support Mooney’s campaign. This follows previous reporting that West Virginia is a “major front” in the multi-million dollar “looming proxy war” between national Republicans — who are backing Justice — and the Club for Growth — who endorsed Mooney.
  
• Mooney touted the endorsement of the Summers County Republican Executive Committee. The group amplified Mooney’s assertion that he is “the only real conservative in the race and the only candidate that will fight for our Constitutional rights and freedom.”

• New reporting details that Justice-owned mines “comprise nearly a fifth of $16.5M in federal mine safety fine debt.” Justice has “developed a reputation for” being a “deadbeat billionaire”: this is “only the most recent” in a “long history” of Jim Justice’s failure to meet his “financial and work safety obligations,” including public safety violations, unpaid fees and taxes, and millions of dollars in debt.

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