(Reuters) – West Virginia Governor Jim Justice has easily won the U.S. Senate election, Edison Research predicted on Tuesday. This brings Republicans one step closer to their goal of taking control of the upper chamber of Congress after four years of Democratic majorities.
Justice, 73, will succeed independent Sen. Joe Manchin, 77, a former Democratic governor of the Appalachian mining state who is retiring after a 14-year career in the Senate spent as a centrist power broker who influenced Democratic agendas. Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
He easily defeated Democrat Glenn Elliott, the mayor of Wheeling.
Republicans need a net gain of at least two seats to gain control of the 100-seat Senate, which Democrats currently lead with a 51-49 majority.
Justice, a popular conservative who left the Democratic Party in 2017, has loudly promoted his alliance with Republican Donald Trump, calling the former president a “good friend” and predicting the country will become “completely unhinged” unless Trump wins the White House .
Justice will be the first Republican to hold the seat since 1959, when the late Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd began his 51-year career in the House.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
