2023-10-16 06:32:29
CHARLESTON — With his businesses facing financial issues, Gov. Jim Justice is relying on campaign donations to fuel his Republican campaign for U.S. Senate, but his haul for the most recent quarter was more than what U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney received.
Candidates for federal officers had until Sunday to turn in their October quarterly campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Committee covering the periods of July, August and September.
According to his quarterly report, Justice raised $602,559, which was 35% less than the $935,036 he raised during the July quarter covering the period between April, when Justice first entered the race, and June. But it was 126% more than the $265,858 raised by Mooney, who is Justice’s closest competitor.
Justice has raised more than $1.5 million election year-to-date and has more than $1.1 million in cash-on-hand heading into the remainder of 2023. But the campaign has $186,203 in debt, including owing $110,060 to the Justice-owned Greenbrier Hotel Corp.
Justice, whose businesses have been inundated over the last several years with state and federal court cases from stiffed vendors, creditors seeking hundreds of millions in loan guarantees and federal agencies seeking millions in penalties and fines, has said he does not intend to rely on his personal wealth to self-fund his race for the seat held by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
“No true fiscal conservative would vote for a candidate as scandal-riddled as Jim Justice,” said Mooney Campaign Manager John Findlay. “From faulty investments to unpaid court-ordered fines, Justice has proven he doesn’t have what it takes to handle our country’s most pressing issues. Congressman Alex X. Mooney is the only true conservative in this race.”
During his weekly administrative briefing, Justice said his fundraising was down between the July and October quarters due to changing his national fundraising team.
“In all honesty, we just didn’t have anybody for almost two months there,” Justice said. “(Fundraising) is going great. People are really stepping up and everything, and I run off of their energy. From the standpoint of self-funding, I’m not going to do that. The reason I’m not going to do that is just plain and simple: I really believe this job is tough for anybody to do and I think if I’m willing to step up, we all need to step up and be together.”
Besides fundraising, the Justice campaign will include financial support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which hosted a fundraiser for Justice in Washington, D.C., last month. Justice also was endorsed by the Senate Leadership Fund, the campaign arm of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
While Justice outraised Mooney for the quarter, Mooney maintains an advantage in overall fundraising. Mooney raised more than $1.3 million election year-to-date and has nearly $1.6 million in cash-on-hand.
Nearly 18% of the money Mooney raised for the three-month quarter, $47,675, came from Team Mooney, a joint fundraising committee. Team Mooney consists of Mooney for Senate, Americans for Legislation Excellence PAC, Club for Growth Action and the Morgan County Republican Executive Committee.
Team Mooney raised $146,576 for the quarter and $571,304 calendar year-to-date. The joint fundraising committee has $23,946 in cash-on-hand for the remainder of the year after disbursements.
Club for Growth Action, the fundraising arm of the conservative Club Growth, raised more than $1.5 million, according to its FEC monthly report for August, and more than $27 million since January. For August, Club for Growth Action spent $20,230 opposing Justice. More than $346,000 has been spent by the Club for Growth Action against Justice Since April. Club for Growth previously committed $10 million toward supporting Mooney.
During that same time period, Club for Growth PAC has spent $30,149 on behalf of Mooney, along with $63,130 spent to support Mooney by the Senate Conservative Fund founded by Jim DeMint, a former Republican senator and former Heritage Foundation president.
In a poll released Friday by Emerson College, 41% of respondents support Justice compared to 28% who said they would support Manchin in a head-to-head general election race, with 15% saying they would support someone else and 16% were undecided.
If Mooney was the Republican nominee for Senate in 2024 and Manchin decides to seek a third six-year term next year, 37% said they would support Manchin, 31% said they would support Mooney, 13% said they would support someone else and 18% were undecided.
Manchin has said he will make a decision about his political intentions at the end of this year. No quarterly FEC report was available for Manchin at press time, but Manchin had more than $10.7 million in cash-on-hand at the end of June.
Republican Senate candidate Zane Lawhorn and Democratic Senate candidate Zachary Shrewsbury filed no reports for the quarter.
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
1697453489
#Justice #Outraises #Mooney #West #Virginia #GOP #Senate #Race #News #Sports #Jobs