Jim Justice wins West Virginia Senate race after Joe Manchin resigns

West Virginia's Republican Gov. Jim Justice won the state's open Senate seat on Tuesday, NBC News predicts. This means the Republicans are one step closer to reversing the balance of power in the chamber.

Justice faced little competition from Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, a Democrat, in a race that Republicans were almost certain to win following the resignation of independent Sen. Joe Manchin, who left the Democratic Party in May.

With Justice's victory, the GOP only needs to lose one seat to win control of the Senate if Vice President Kamala Harris holds the White House for Democrats. If former President Donald Trump wins, the GOP is poised to control the Senate if no other seats change hands as the vice president cuts ties in the chamber.

Justice won the gubernatorial election in 2016, the same year Trump won the state by more than 42 percentage points. Back then, Justice ran as a Democrat and beat his Republican opponent by 7 percentage points.

A year later, he announced his departure from the Democratic Party and stood alongside Trump at a campaign rally. After handily winning re-election in 2020, speculation quickly mounted about whether the term-limited governor would consider a run for the Senate in 2024.

Justice launched his 2023 campaign when Manchin publicly refused to commit to running again. After months of public disputes with his party, Manchin announced that he would not run for re-election.

While the governor was handpicked by the Republican establishment, he faced a primary challenge in the spring from Republican Rep. Alex Mooney, who was backed by the conservative Club for Growth. But Justice won in May, defeating Mooney by 35 percentage points, and has faced little political opposition since.