In the scorching heat, a crowd of more than 100 people, mostly senior citizens, waited outside for nearly an hour for Gov. Jim Justice to arrive at this year’s West Virginia Day celebration in Wheeling.
No one was really surprised by the governor’s tardiness. “Several members of the crowd even joked about how typical this was of the governor,” local reporter Justice Hudson of the Wheeling Free Press later wrote.
When he did arrive, Justice told the crowd of people huddling in the shade that he hadn’t brought his dog because she didn’t do well in the heat.
Justice showing up late is part of a broader pattern. For the nearly eight years he’s served as West Virginia’s governor, Justice has lived in Lewisburg, two hours away from Charleston. Critics, even in his own party, say he seldom works at the Capitol.
Now, he’s the frontrunner to win the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin and that was held before that – for more than 50 years – by the legendary Sen. Robert C. Byrd.
The Senate is not the West Virginia governor’s office. Votes are regularly held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and sometimes on Mondays and Fridays during sessions.
A key part of the job is voting, and most senators seem to take that responsibility seriously. Last session, senators showed up an average of 96% of the time to vote.
In an interview, when asked if he’d commit to showing up more than 90 percent of the time, Justice said he anticipated he would. But he also hedged.
“I won’t make any promises,” he said. “I feel like you have to be there unless you get sick or something like that. But listen, do you think for a second that we could have accomplished what we’ve accomplished in West Virginia if I wasn’t on the job?”
Robert Rupp, a professor emeritus who taught political science at West Virginia Wesleyan University, said the governor will have to alter his approach to be successful in Congress.
“Right now, the governor rules the state, but he’s gotten into a lot of arguments, even with his own party,” he said. “When you’re the executive, you are in charge. You are the most powerful person in the state. And when you go off to the Senate, you are just one of 100 and that calls for more patience than many politicians have.”
Justice’s Democratic opponent, Glenn Elliott, said he has prepared for the job through five years working for Sen. Byrd, a Democrat, and by observing outgoing Sen. Manchin’s approach.
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“I think I would be a much more logical extension of their record of service than with someone who, frankly, is going to make it a part-time job,” he said. “Being a senator is a far more time-consuming and labor-intensive job than being a governor the way he has been governor, and you cannot do it from Lewisburg.”
“He is the boss of his companies, and he’s used to telling people what he wants done”
In 2017, Justice’s first year as governor, he brought a platter of what he called “bull you know what” to the state Capitol. He said it represented the budget passed by the Legislature, and blamed both Democrats and Republicans after negotiation efforts with his office failed. Eventually, he let the Legislature’s version of a budget pass without a veto but also without his signature.
Then-state Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison, said the governor is an intelligent, skilled negotiator, likely thanks to his work in business dealings. But Romano said being a top corporate executive also comes with some baggage.
“He is the boss of his companies, and he’s used to telling people what he wants done, and whether they agree with it or not, it gets done,” Romano said.
Craig Volden, a professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia, said it will be important for Justice to stay in Washington, D.C. while senators are in session to build close connections with other lawmakers.
Volden is also the co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking.
“That is when you build those relationships,” Volden said. “That’s when you look for support for your legislation.”
Just this year, House Finance Chair Vernon Criss had to deal with one example of Justice not collaborating with lawmakers, when Criss had to make a last-minute announcement. Lawmakers only found out from Justice well into the legislative session that they needed to reduce the state budget. On the day the House Finance Committee was scheduled to vote on its final budget iteration, lawmakers learned that they needed to anticipate a potential $465 million federal clawback.
Later, Criss, R-Wood, said it took time for the governor to learn he couldn’t “just run over top of us.” He said that now, Justice has meetings when needed with lawmakers, and he is impressed by the governor’s forward-thinking approach.
Another top Republican, Senate Finance Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, doesn’t believe that the governor has learned his lesson, at least regarding the budget.
Earlier this month, Tarr told West Virginia MetroNews that legislators had repeatedly asked the governor for long-term budget predictions so they could more carefully make decisions, but the governor said he’d given lawmakers all the information they needed.
“I think that may be the governor just not understanding this budgetary process,” Tarr said.
“Not just sitting in an office”
Earlier this month, Justice held a celebration of his Roads to Prosperity road funding initiative at the state Capitol. He spent about twenty minutes shaking hands and taking selfies with a long line of highway workers.
At similar events throughout the state, Justice doles out awards, presents checks and promotes other signature initiatives.
In an interview following the event, Justice said he considers travel time and events like the celebration part of his job.
“If you really believe the garbage that I don’t show up, or I’m not in the office, or whatever – I’m out with the people every day,” he said. “I’m not just sitting in an office down here, getting a gold star for perfect attendance.”
Bill Bissett, who was the state director for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito from 2021-2024, also said travel is an important part of the job of a U.S. Senator. He said Capito has kept a very aggressive travel schedule around the state because it’s important for her to go out and see the state firsthand and hear from constituents.
“He is going to set his own agenda. When he has something he wants to do, he will be there,” Bissett said, referencing Justice’s recent visit to a coal mine.
Speaking during a ceremonial bill signing held for members of the West Virginia State Firemen’s Association a couple months ago, Justice said that he was running for the Senate because, like the firemen, he had an opportunity to provide a public service.
“If you happened to just be the one that could win and could really make a difference and flip the U.S. Senate and maybe get us on a better path now, would you do it?” he said.
“There’s not a fiber in me that wants to go to D.C.,” he said.