Wv Governor to Change Party Again
President Trump talks with Westward Virginia Gov. Jim Justice before Justice spoke during a rally Thursday in Huntington, Due west.Va. Justice said at the rally that he intends to switch parties and rejoin the Republicans. Darron Cummings/AP hide caption
toggle explanation
Darron Cummings/AP
President Trump talks with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice before Justice spoke during a rally Th in Huntington, W.Va. Justice said at the rally that he intends to switch parties and rejoin the Republicans.
Darron Cummings/AP
Updated at 9:30 p.m. ET
Due west Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced he will flip from the Democratic Political party to the GOP, making the declaration Th dark while actualization at a rally with the president.
"Today I will tell yous with lots of prayers and lots of thinking, I'll tell you lot West Virginians, I tin't help y'all whatsoever more beingness a Democrat governor," Justice said.
"The Democrats walked abroad from me," the governor argued, and reflected that his belatedly mother, who was a big fan of onetime President Ronald Reagan, was looking downwardly on him thinking, "Jimmy, it's about damn time you came to your senses."
Trump had teased "a very big announcement" during the Huntington, West.Va., rally and the New York Times was commencement to study that Justice'southward party switch would be the major reveal.
First elected last Nov as a conservative Democrat, Justice is a billionaire coal and real manor businessman who has fatigued comparisons to Trump. He has identified as a Republican and an independent in the past, and he declined to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
On Thursday, Justice enthusiastically threw his support behind the president, saying he had already visited him at the Oval Office to talk about coal and manufacturing jobs. He praised Trump'due south children, noting he'southward gone hunting with his sons, and said, like him, the president isn't a politician.
"This homo is a practiced human," Justice said. "He's got a courage. He'southward got real ideas. He cares about America. He cares nearly us in W Virginia."
Trump heralded Justice'southward determination as evidence that "our calendar rises above left or right."
Justice's switch means Republicans now have control of a record 34 governorships — tying a record set nearly a century ago in 1922 — and gives the GOP complete control of country government in 26 states.
The terminal high-contour political party-switch — Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's 2009 flip from Republican to Democrat — was the result of a lengthy courtship procedure from top-level Democrats. That wasn't the example hither.
West Virginia Republicans were caught completely off-guard. Underscoring that fact: state Republican Chairman Conrad Lucas was out of the state on his honeymoon when the party learned of Justice's decision.
"We are very cognizant of the fact that we take criticized him greatly in the past for his various policy positions and the way he has conducted his businesses," Lucas told NPR. "All the same all that bear was done while he was a Democrat. Today he's a Republican so we await forward to moving forward."
Indeed, West Virginia Republicans were criticizing Justice as recently as earlier Th, when the party tweeted out a story critical of him.
At the time of the switch, the state party website was filled with anti-Justice press releases and posts. "The ethical problems of this administration volition shortly become obvious," the country GOP said in a press release just a few weeks ago.
In February, they called Justice a "deadbeat" for still attributable $iv.iv million in dorsum taxes.
Lucas still sounded a bit wary Thursday night. "We volition care for him as a member of our political party, merely we expect him to human activity as a member of our party," he said.
National Republicans cheered the motility. Republican Governors Association Chairman and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in a statement that "we're thrilled that Governor Jim Justice wants to bring together our efforts. On behalf of our nation's Republican governors, nosotros welcome Governor Justice to the RGA, and look forward to working with him to accelerate bourgeois principles and strengthen W Virginia."
However, national Democrats — who were not informed about Justice'south decision earlier the news leaked — were quick to bespeak out that Republicans spent plenty of time attacking Justice when he was their opponent. Alee of the declaration, the West Virginia Republican Party's website was headlined past multiple anti-Justice posts.
"Jim Justice deceived the voters of West Virginia when he ran as a Democrat 8 months ago," Autonomous Governors Association Executive Manager Elisabeth Pearson said in a statement. "West Virginians take learned that they but tin't trust Jim Justice. He will always put his financial interests above the needs of Due west Virginians.
"As Republicans accept repeatedly said, Jim Justice owes millions of dollars in unpaid company taxes, afterward a deal with a Russian coal visitor," Pearson continued. "The debts accept only worsened during Justice'due south term as governor. If President Trump cut a bargain, we hope it does non put U.Due south. taxpayers on the hook to bail out Jim Justice'southward personal finances."
While the Mountaineer State has been historically Autonomous, the country has moved to the correct on the federal level, specially in recent years. West Virginia gave Trump one of his largest margins of victory in November, winning the land by nearly 42 points.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also a conservative and a former governor, is expected to face a tough re-election race next year. In that location has been speculation that Manchin might also switch parties or bring together the Trump Chiffonier, just Manchin's spokesman knocked down both those rumors to the Times.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/03/541460116/west-virginia-governor-expected-to-switch-to-gop-at-trump-rally
0 Response to "Wv Governor to Change Party Again"
Post a Comment