Republicans poised to re-take U.S. Senate

Gov. Jim Justice talks to the press at the Greenbrier Resort Tuesday night following his landslide victory in the state U.S. Senate race. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s soon-to-be senior U.S. senator is pleased that Republicans are on the verge of re-taking the U.S. Senate, though it remains to be seen if the GOP will maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives with votes still to be counted.

West Virginians went to the polls Tuesday and elected Gov. Jim Justice as the state’s next junior U.S. senator by more than a 40-point margin over his Democratic opponent, former Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott.

“I think they called this at 7:31 p.m. The polls closed at 7:30 p.m. What took them so long,” Justice said Tuesday night at his election night watch party at the Greenbrier Resort, taking the stage shortly after the Associated Press called the election in his favor. “It’s a big, big honor. There is no doubt about that.”

According to unofficial election results from the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, Justice carried 70% of the vote for 507,973 votes, with Elliott carrying 28% of the vote for 203,621 votes. Justice led Elliott in all 55 counties, including in Elliott’s home county in Ohio County by nearly 17 points.

“Earlier this year, I put my name on the ballot as a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in what is likely our country’s most Republican state,” Elliott said in a statement released on social media Wednesday morning. “Yesterday, the voters of the Mountain State left little doubt that they saw things differently. And while disappointed in the outcome, I wholly accept their verdict.”

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, speaking at Gov. Jim Justice’s U.S. Senate election night watch party at the Greenbrier Resort Tuesday night, said she was thrilled at Justice’s victory and going to Capitol Hill with an all-Republican state congressional delegation. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

With Justice’s victory Tuesday night, that flips one of West Virginia’s two Senate seats from Democratic to Republican. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin – who decided to retire from the Senate instead of seeking a third six-year term – had changed his party registration earlier this year from Democrat to unaffiliated, though he still caucused with the Senate Democratic majority.

Justice’s victory also means the entire West Virginia congressional delegation is Republican for the first time since prior to the Great Depression. U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., won re-election for her fourth two-year term Tuesday night, while Republican State Treasurer Riley Moore won election to the 2nd Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., who was defeated in the May GOP primary for U.S. Senate by Justice.

When Manchin retires at the end of the year, that will mean that U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito will become the senior U.S. Senator and the leader of the state’s congressional delegation. She also stands to become the fourth ranking member of Republican Senate leadership next year if she is elected by her colleagues as chair of the Senate Republican Conference.

Speaking Tuesday night at Justice’s U.S. Senate election night watch party at the Greenbrier Resort, Capito said she was thrilled to see an all-GOP state congressional delegation and a potential GOP majority in the Senate next year with Justice’s landslide victory.

“I think the best news…is West Virginia is going to have a Republican delegation. And what that means is that Republicans nationally have won one seat in the United States Senate,” Capito said. “We only need one more to take control of the Senate, which means we control the agenda, the committee chairmanships, and I think also oversight. Jim Justice has done his part…by overwhelming numbers. We’re looking at the other states to bring it in. It’s very exciting.”

According to the Associated Press, Republicans flipped U.S. Senate seats in West Virginia, Ohio, and Montana. Republican Bernie Moreno defeated U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Republican Tim Sheehy defeated U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. Another six U.S. Senate races remain to be called, including the race between U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Republican David McCormick.

However, there are 56 races still too close to call in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Republicans holding at 199 seats and Democrats holding at 180 seats as of Wednesday morning according to the Associated Press.

Capito, currently the ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is likely next in line to chair the EPW Committee next year. Capito also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. It remains to be seen what committees Justice will be placed on, though he has expressed interest in being appointed to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee as well as the appropriations committee.

Regardless of where he gets appointed, Capito said having Justice in the Senate, President Donald Trump in the White House, and having a united Republican state delegation in Congress means good things for West Virginia.

“When we take control of the Senate as a party, that means…that we will fight doubly hard for West Virginia,” Capito said. “We can really be, I think, a much greater voice in Washington than what our small state would have otherwise.

“I think it gives West Virginia a voice at the leadership table every single day to decide what issues we care about, how we’re going to work with President Trump…and how we get a conservative agenda over the finish line into policy,” Capito continued. “I’m going to be right there working with the next (Senate Majority Leader), whoever that will be, to formulate that policy and that agenda.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com