Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a Democrat who was elected in 2016, is expected to announce Thursday night at a rally with President Trump that he is changing parties and becoming a Republican, according to The New York Times.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters that there would be “a very big announcement” at a gathering in Huntington, West Virginia.
The switch isn’t entirely a shock; Justice, a billionaire coal and real estate magnate, was a Republican until just before launching his run for governor in 2015. Then in 2016, he refused to endorse Hillary Clinton and ran instead as a blue-dog Democrat. Before he was governor, he donated to politicians of all stripes, Republican, Democrat and independent.
During the 2016 campaign, both Justice and his opponent, Republican Bill Cole, vied for the claim over which of them was closer to Trump; that battle became clear in their second gubernatorial debate:
Justice also regularly hunted with Trump’s son Eric. He told OZY, “I have a pathway to the White House, and it’s really unusual for West Virginia.”
Scott Crichlow, chair of the political science department of West Virginia University, pointed out that in West Virginia “it’s a fairly weak governor position,” as the West Virginia legislature only needs a simple majority to overturn vetoes.
If Justice does announce he is a Republican, only 15 governors in the United States will be Democrats. After Barack Obama was elected in 2009, the Democrats had a majority of the governorships; they held 26 seats.