New poll shows Justice with big lead in U.S. Senate race

Oct. 14—The Jim Justice for U.S Senate campaign is touting another poll that shows the incumbent governor with a large lead over his closest opponent in the Mountain State's closely watched U.S. Senate race.

According to the Justice campaign, Tony Fabrizio — a Republican pollster who worked for Donald Trump's campaign in 2016 and 2020 and is now working for Justice's 2024 Senate bid — conducted the poll and found that Justice leads fellow Republican Alex Mooney 62 percent to 23 percent in the May 2024 Republican primary.

Another 15 percent of those who were polled said they were undecided in that race.

The poll also found that 72 percent of West Virginia Republican primary voters have a favorable opinion of Justice.

Justice and Mooney are vying for the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate race to challenge incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin in 2024. For his part, Manchin still hasn't said whether or not he intends to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate.

Mooney's campaign responded by calling it a "spin poll," and argued that the pollster didn't mention negatives associated with Justice, including his support for "liberal spending."

"Jim Justice is running as a Washington D.C. insider, waiting in the wings to do their bidding if he gets to Washington," John Findlay, Mooney's campaign manager, said. "Jim Justice is already on the record supporting Joe Biden's reckless big government spending and he will continue that support in Washington."

During his virtual administration briefing Friday, Justice was asked about his ongoing fundraising efforts in the U.S. Senate contest.

Justice said the campaign was in the process of switching a national fund raiser during the July and August reporting period. But he said fund-raising efforts were going very well.

"It's going great," Justice said. "A lot of people are stepping up."

Justice he didn't plan to self-fund his campaign.

His campaign later released a statement saying it had raised $602,659 in the third fundraising quarter and will report nearly $1.2 million cash on hand at the end of the quarter.

"Governor Justice continues to receive strong support from West Virginians who have confidence in his leadership and conservative record of achievements," Roman Stauffer, campaign manager for the Justice campaign, said. "He is the strongest Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in West Virginia and continues to raise more money and lead in every poll against his primary election opponent, who is endorsed by one of the most prominent anti-Trump Super PACs in the country this election cycle."

Staffer said all dollars raised went directly to Jim Justice for U.S. Senate and included no personal funds from the candidate.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com. Follow him @BDTOwens