U.S. Senate Opponents Glenn Elliott, Jim Justice Exchange Jabs
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WHEELING - West Virginia’s race for a U.S. Senate seat between outgoing Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott and current Gov. Jim Justice is turning into a dogfight, with both candidates publicly exchanging jabs on social media and in the press.
Elliott, whose second and final term as the Friendly City’s mayor ends Sunday, is the Democratic nominee in the race for the Senate seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Justice is the Republican nominee.
On Wednesday after back-and-forth political punches were traded, Elliott issued a challenge to debate Justice anywhere in the state and anytime he was willing to talk about the issues facing West Virginia.
In a recent social media post, Elliott criticized Justice over a depiction of the governor’s popular pet English bulldog, Babydog, that was included in a new taxpayer-funded mural at the State Capitol. Elliott also took issue with Justice making people in Wheeling wait out in the sweltering heat last week during a West Virginia Day ceremony at Independence Hall, where a new statue honoring the state’s first governor, Arthur I. Boreman, was unveiled. Elliott claimed Justice said basically nothing of substance about Boreman.
"Many seem to be shocked that @WVGovernor managed to have the new murals at the Capitol - the people’s house - somehow be about himself. I’m not," the Wheeling mayor said in a tweet on his Glenn Elliott for Senate account on the social media platform X on Friday. "This pattern of behavior has been on display for 7½ years now. Just yesterday, at an event in Wheeling to unveil a new statue honoring WV’s first governor, he showed up 45 minutes late, leaving a large crowd of mostly senior citizens waiting in their seats in the sun on the hottest day of the year. When he finally arrived, he stayed in his air conditioned SUV until it was his turn to speak."
Elliott pointed to the video from the event that was posted on the governor’s own social media page on X.
"In his remarks, he spoke at length about his own dog and said nothing about Governor Boreman," Elliott said. "This total lack of respect for anything beyond himself is why he is wholly unfit to represent West Virginia in the United States Senate."
During Wednesday’s press briefing, Justice was asked about Elliott’s remarks.
"The only response that I would have is - tell Glenn to get a life," Justice said. "I mean, for God sakes a-living. That’s so ridiculous, it’s off the chart. I didn’t bring Babydog with me up there. Lots and lots and lots of folks would have loved to have seen her, I’m sure. At the same time, it was so hot, it was unbelievable. So I opted out to not do that."
Justice said he appeared at the event along with Randall Reid-Smith, the cabinet secretary of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, to honor the legacy of the man who was such an important figure in the birth of the state.
"Arthur I. Boreman, our first governor - we made every tribute in the world to him," Justice said. "We spoke of how he was our governor right in the middle of the Civil War toward the end of it - 20 days before Gettysburg."
Justice indicated that assigning a negative narrative to the celebratory event was a sign of desperation on the part of his political opponent.
"So many things happened that were really positive that day, but you’ve got a desperate politician that is absolutely going to lose by a landslide beyond belief because the people of this great state know me," Justice said during Wednesday’s press briefing. "They know me, they know what I’ve done and everything. They’ve helped me pull the rope in every single way. To be perfectly honest, the folks in Wheeling were great. I love Wheeling, and I mean that sincerely. They’ve always been wonderful, wonderful folks to me.
"Like I said - desperate politicians can do a lot of crazy stuff, and we’ll just wish Glenn the best and go on down the road," Justice added.
On Wednesday, Elliott reiterated his stance that Justice rarely delivers substantive speeches related to the issues at hand, saying that the only mention of Boreman in the governor’s speech in Wheeling involved him noting that the statue actually weighed more than him.
The governor also noted Wednesday that he had nothing to do with the inclusion of the depiction of Babydog in the mural at the State Capitol in Charleston. But he said he was "tickled to death" about it.
"Look, Babydog has brought happiness all across the state, and I love it in every way that she’s brought that happiness," Justice said. "And really and truly, I wasn’t a party in putting Babydog in the mural. I think what they were trying to do is they wanted to put a dog in, and well, they had to pick some kind of dog - so they picked an English bulldog."
Justice said it seemed to be a fitting pick since long ago before the United States became a country, the colonies were under English control.
On Wednesday, Elliott stood by his social media posts criticizing Justice, maintaining they were all factual.
"He just wants to throw red meat out there," Elliott said. "I would love to appear with him for a debate, but he doesn’t want to talk about the issues."
Elliott on Wednesday also tweeted a partially blacked-out post on his social media page from what he said was a statewide fundraising mailer sent out by Justice. The uncensored section Elliott posted showed a phrase stating "campaign of a worthless Democrat running against me."
It was an "interesting choice of words," according to Elliott. "When door knocking in Welch last week, I was told by several residents that there is nothing more worthless in McDowell County than a check written by Jim Justice."
Elliott said he took issue with the mailer which he noted did not mention him by name.
"I’ve stood next to him on many occasions when he has referred to me as a good mayor," Elliott said of Justice. "Calling someone a ‘worthless Democrat’ is particularly interesting given the fact that he used to be a Democrat until his interests changed when that became politically inconvenient for him."
Elliott has remained outspoken about his frustration with the divisive nature of politics taking place on the state level by legislators in Charleston.
Also on Wednesday, Wheeling Mayor-elect Denny Magruder posted on Facebook a photo taken of him in a small group surrounding Justice and Babydog at Justice's desk.
"Rebuilding relationships," Magruder wrote in the post, along with a hand-shaking emoji. "I spent some time today with the Governor and Babydog."