GOP looks to retain WV governor seat with frontrunner, as Justice exits, makes Senate bid

The GOP appears poised Tuesday to keep its West Virginia gubernatorial seat with front-running nominee state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

Morrisey led Democratic challenger city of Huntington Mayor Steve Williams by 14 percentage points – 49-35% – in a poll in August. There appears to be no additional public polling since then. However, West Virginia is a heavily Republican state that has voted for the GOP presidential nominee since 2000 and backed party nominee Donald Trump with nearly 69% of the vote in his 2016 and 2020 bids. 

The winner of the state's 2024 gubernatorial contest will replace popular GOP Gov. Jim Justice who had to end his two-term governorship because of state term limits and is competes for an open Senate seat.

Morrisey and Williams participated in a debate on Tuesday night that highlighted the key differences in their campaigns.

Morrisey focused his campaign on improving the state by making it as "efficient" as it can be, which was his key theme for Tuesday's debate.

The attorney general said that he would "begin on day one with an audit of all of the state agencies to try to get to the bottom of how we can find efficiencies," including on topics such as education, energy, and taxes. He also said he would examine each agency to see where he can reduce spending. 

Williams said that he wants to build consensus within his administration, if elected next week, by bringing in experts to sort out the state's biggest problems.

“You get brilliant people around the table, and it’s amazing the innovation that you can do,” the mayor observed.

Here are where the candidates stand on other critical West Virginia issues.

Education

One major topic for the incoming state executive, regardless of which candidate wins the election, is education. Public education in West Virginia is among the lowest in the country, and pay for public school teachers in West Virginia is the lowest. 

Morrisey is a big proponent of school choice, and has pushed to make the state's HOPE scholarship more widely accessible so families can better decide what schools they want to send their children to. The HOPE scholarship gives families $4,400 per student to use for private school, or homeschooling, with few restrictions.

“We have to have the best education system,” Morrisey said. “The quickest way we do that is by having the Hope Scholarship be very broad.”

Opponents of the scholarship have warned that it would lead to public school students being treated as second-class citizens, and Williams said he did not believe taxpayer dollars should be used on private schools because the state government does not oversee private school spending.

Abortion

On the topic of abortion, one of the biggest issues for voters nationwide, the candidates stand with their respective party. Morrisey said that West Virginia voters already decided on abortion in 2018, before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, by passing an amendment that said the state constitution does not protect the right to an abortion.

Morrisey also supports a near-total ban on abortion that the state passed in 2022. 

Williams has repeatedly called for another constitutional referendum on abortion in the wake of the decision overturning Roe. 

“I trust women to make their own decisions,” Williams said. 

Cutting taxes and the economy

Both candidates have listed the economy as one of the biggest issues facing the state. Both are also in favor of reducing income taxes, but have different approaches in how to achieve the goal. Morrisey said he plans to compare the state income taxes of neighboring states and beat them with the lowest taxation rate. 

The attorney general also emphasized competition with other states as a primary approach to the state economy.

"If we want to successfully compete against all of the states that we touch, we need to have THE lowest personal income tax in the region," Morrisey wrote on his campaign website. "We also need to engage in comprehensive tax reform and compare all of West Virginia’s taxes to the states which we touch. We will better compete in the modern economy when we are free and not penalized for engaging in commerce." 

Morrisey also said he wants to attract outsiders to move into the state in order to improve workforce participation numbers, according to local media station WTOV-9. 

Williams said that he is in favor of eliminating income taxes, but would need to create a plan that helps offset the loss in revenue in another way, which is something he has done with Huntington.

Misty Severi is an news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.