Senate Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer thought he could throw caution to the wind. Boy was he wrong.
Because Chuck Schumer was delivered a warning that’s making him utterly paranoid.
In the 2024 Senate campaign, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., might face a significant challenge from the Republican side—from the state’s highest-ranking politician.
Republican West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said to Fox News on Monday that he is considering running for Manchin’s Senate seat.
“I’m very interested,” said Justice, a former Democrat who famously jumped to the Republican Party in 2017 after attending a Donald Trump political rally. “I mean, that’s all there is to it, and I’m very serious about it. I don’t play games with anybody at that point, jerking people around and all that kind of stuff.”
Justice then added: “I am a guy who is hung up on the truth. I’m a guy who is hung up on serving. I’ve never taken one thing from being the governor of this great state. We’ve taken it from a really tough time into a situation to where now we’ve got surpluses beyond belief, and we’re on the pathway of maybe cutting our personal income tax by 50%.”
Justice argued that without more leadership at the top, “we could lose this nation” in a general statement regarding the status of American politics at the moment.
“And so I am a patriot through and through. And so I am very, very serious about this.”
The 75-year-old Manchin has appeared to be the most secure Democrat senator serving in a Republican state for a time.
In a recent nationwide survey that took into account Democrats, Republicans, and independents, Manchin was found to have the greatest level of support of any senator.
Additionally, Justice hasn’t publicly criticized Manchin much despite overseeing a record budget surplus for West Virginia during his time in office.
In fact, Fox News stated that during his discussion with Manchin, Justice said only one unfavorable comment, and it was in a rather mild manner.
“One minute Joe’s moving in one direction, and another moment he’s moving in another direction. And so all that being said, I’m not going to sit here … and cast stones at Joe,” said Justice.
Justice, a millionaire businessman who owns The Greenbrier resort in Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, said he “probably wouldn’t” self-fund his campaign and that others would need to be “pulling the rope around me” if he were to take the Senate race the following year.
“I run off [the people’s] energy, really, and truly,” said Justice.
Chuck Schumer and the Democrats’ majority in the Senate is razor thin.
On top of that, there’s been more and more Senators defecting from the mainline Democrat Party like Kyrsten Sinema who recently switched to independent.
Joe Manchin being in a tough Senate race in 2024 is probably the last thing that Chuck Schumer wants to hear.
But we don’t know if Justice plans on running yet, as it just sounds like he’s entertaining the idea so far.
Either way, Schumer should be really nervous about his future in the Upper Chamber.
Stay tuned to the Federalist Wire.
