West Virginia Governor to Switch from Democrat to Republican
Make that the newly elected governor. Caps mine:
WASHINGTON — Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a Democrat who was elected LAST YEAR even as President Trump carried the state by 42 points, is expected to announce Thursday night at a rally with Mr. Trump that he is changing parties, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
Please share widely!
Christopher says
He was a Dem of convenience who only became one to run, having previously been independent and even Republican. No big loss for us.
jconway says
It’s only a loss if Manchin flips which he says he won’t.
JimC says
Why are you guys letting him off the hook? Switching parties is no small thing. He was elected governor nine months ago, and he’s been governor for seven months. Maybe he always intended to switch back, but if so that’s concerning too.
Presumably he took money from Democratic voters in West Virginia, and he certainly used party resources in his election bid. This is arguably theft.
And the aforementioned convenience was distance from Trump, I presume. But now he’s embracing Trump. What a snake.
SomervilleTom says
I grew up in the region. I know West Virginia. I have family in West Virginia. There’s no news here. Sorry, but this is just typical West Virginia behavior. It’s not surprising that the state voted for Donald Trump.
Yes, of course he’s a snake. West Virginia is full of snakes.
JimC says
Fair enough, but I say snakes are always news.
Christopher says
And now going through my head is the line, “you knew I was a snake when you took me in”, which seems appropriate here.
jconway says
He embraced Trump in 2016 and the DGA was still stupid enough to give him money, he apparently begged them for it. Now we look like clowns for ever sponsoring his candidacy in the first place, and the Republicans, who hit him hard for being delinquent on taxes look like hypocrites. It’s shit like this that swells the ranks of the unenrolled and non-voting.
jconway says
And reason #31 not to give money to the capital D organizations in Washington, but to individual candidates, unions, and explicitly progressive groups.
Manchin is getting a serious left populist challenger which should be interesting. I have no problem with renominating him since he stuck with us on saving ACA and isn’t abandoning the party. But I am glad WV Democrats have a real choice and a real voice in the process to avoid something like this in the future.
centralmassdad says
I think there is a reasonable argument to be made that the loss is occasioned more by nominating the guy, even though he was apparently a Dem of convenience from the get-go, rather than from the switch. It pretty much means that your entire party apparatus in WV is devoted to “I dunno, let’s just find someone who can maybe win and have a “(D)” after their name on the news.” And this in a state that really ought to be possible to turn purple or blue over the long time because of Dem stances on economic issues and in spite of Dem stances on cultural issues.
But what is the liklihood of that ever happening, if long-term policy positions can be simply jettisoned in hopes of chalking up a W? Nil.
As much as I disagree with jtmay on just about everything, the one point that he has, and, alas, makes quite frequently, is that your party has to stand for something. And if that guy could be a Democrat until yesterday, the party doesn’t really stand for a damn thing.
— unless the only value that really counts is loyalty to party.
jconway says
This is why we need a 50 state strategy and have to stop writing places off. The Republicans play the long game and are better equipped to take advantage of breaks whether it is the Scott Brown win here or their long term plan to take a bastion of progressive politics like WI and turn it into a solidly red state. MI isn’t far behind. The fact that right to work got passed in either of those states, that we lost the legislatures first and then the Governorships, is proof that we aren’t doing the hard work of building down ballot benches and cultivating candidates capable of competing anywhere.
It’ll take time, I do not doubt WV won’t be blue again for awhile. But as more and more socially and culturally conservative voters die off, the economy doesn’t improve, and people are desperate for aid the GOP is ideologically opposed to giving them-there will be an opening. And it is time we prepare for those openings all across America.
petr says
This does not answer what CMD said above. In fact, quite the opposite: any ’50 state strategy’ is far more likely to include a “Democrat of convenience” than to forbid it.
Or, lightly editing CMD from above: “I dunno, let’s just find (50) someone(s) who can maybe win and have a “(D)” after their name on the news.”
JimC says
You had me until the last line there — an unnecessary shot (though I’m not sure where it’s directed).
Parties aren’t accidental. We do represent issues and values, and that’s why loyalty matters, because those issues and values matter.
centralmassdad says
I suppose we just disagree. I don’t see that either of the parties stands for very much, other than trying to elect members of their own party. With Dems in the minority, you can say that each stands for “opposing whatever the other party does” though at least for Dems that is in reaction to the GOP position of undoing everything Dems do when in power.
But the party– and electing candidates from a party– is supposed to be a means to an end, and not the end itself. What good does embracing guys like this Justice guy do? What Democratic values were advanced in WV by electing a Democratic governor? Answer: none. Democrats in WV would do better to lose, but at least have a local infrastructure fighting for actual Democratic policy goals that may one day succeed, than to embrace an obvious Republican like this guy, just to “win.”
I don’t see this as much different from the local Massachusetts party. A significant portion of the legislative seats held by Democrats probably shouldn’t be, but that is anathema because “loyalty to party” means that we pretend Republicans are actually Democrats. Yay, our team! So what?
Especially in Massachusetts, it would greatly increase the liklihood of advancing Democratic policy goals if a significant portion of the legislative seats held by “Democrats” weren’t. Dems would still be a majority! And they would probably be able to do stuff other than give away gifts to gambling interests!
If your party has guys like this Justice bozo, then party loyalty is as useful as tits on a rooster.
JimC says
OK.
Let’s imagine for a moment that both parties impose ideological purity, and actively prevent apparently viable candidates from running under their banners if they don’t meet the criteria.
Let’s hear nominees for who would be the first BMG regular to complain about that. Hint, his initials rhyme with BMG.
Big tent, amigo. We let everybody in.
Christopher says
I keep trying to tell people, the job of the institutional party is to get it’s people elected. The time to have this discussion was during primary season, if there were even another choice, which I don’t know. Just about the worst publicity a state party can get is the news that they either can’t field a candidate for the state’s top job or they can’t bring themselves to support him, which has the effect of hurting them downticket as well. Sometimes you have to put on a brave face.