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ELKINS -- Congressman Alex Mooney, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, said he believes retiring Democratic Senator Joe Manchin may try to help Mooney's opponent in the race, Republican Gov. Jim Justice.
Manchin announced in November that he would not seek re-election to the Senate. The move switched attention in the race to the upcoming GOP primary in May, with Mooney and Justice facing off.
On a recent visit to The Inter-Mountain's offices, Mooney said he thinks Manchin may actually try to give Justice a hand in the race.
"There's a guy named Larry Puccio, who was Joe Manchin's chief of staff as governor," Mooney said. "He's now working for Jim Justice. He went to Jim Justice's kickoff announcement. He consulted for Jim Justice's campaign in 2016, when Justice was a Democrat.
"When Justice switched parties after getting elected governor, the question was, would Puccio stay? He stayed."
Mooney added that Manchin has a history of helping his opponents.
"Joe Manchin actually did a TV ad for my opponent in the last election cycle. About two weeks before the election, Joe Manchin did a TV ad for David McKinley for Congress. In my primary!" Mooney said.
"I've seen a lot of weird things in politics, but I did not expect to see a Democrat U.S. senator attempt to interfere in a Republican primary. I think the ad might have hurt McKinley. It didn't help him much, for sure.
"So now the question is, would Manchin do that for Jim Justice? He's obviously behind him more, I think," Mooney said.
The congressman said that, politically, Manchin and Justice are "basically the same."
"Manchin's retiring, I think it frees up the liberal forces to support Jim Justice more openly," Mooney said. "In my view, Justice and Manchin are basically the same. A liberal Republican and a traditional liberal Democrat. Basically the same.
"Remember, Manchin endorsed Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, against the Democrat, for her re-election to the Senate. He likes liberal Republicans. He's good with them."
However, Mooney noted that Manchin's announced retirement has actually helped him in the Senate race.
"Before Manchin pulled out of the race, a lot of GOP people were making the argument, 'Look, Alex may be a better Republican, he's more conservative, he's a loyal Republican. Maybe Alex would be a better senator, but Justice has a better chance of beating Manchin. So let's just hold our noses and vote for the liberal Republican so we can get the seat,'" Mooney said.
"That was the sort of pragmatic argument that was being made. That's completely gone now. Now this will be all about the Republican primary. This is better for me, actually, with the voters and with financial supporters.
"A lot of people had said, 'We'd like to support you, but gosh, we're not sure if you're the best candidate in the general election.' After Manchin dropped out, I called them all back and they all supported me."
Mooney has been elected to five terms in Congress representing West Virginia's Second District.
Mooney defeated Democrat Nick Casey in the 2014 general election.
He defeated Mark Hunt in 2016's general election..
In the 2018 general election he defeated Talley Sergent, and he defeated Cathy Kunkel in the 2020 general election.
In the 2022 Republican primary he defeated David McKinley.