Longtime state attorney general elected governor in this red bastion
The Fox News Decision Desk projects that Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia will succeed GOP Gov. Jim Justice as the red-leaning state’s governor.
Morrisey is projected to defeat Democratic nominee Steve Williams, the mayor of Huntington, the state’s second most populous city.
West Virginia, once a state where Democrats dominated, has shifted far to the right in recent election cycles.
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Former President Trump carried the state by 39-points four years ago and by 42-points in the 2016 election.
Morrisey, 56, has served as West Virginia’s attorney general since 2012.
Justice was term-limited as governor and ran this cycle for the state’s open Senate seat.
Republican Governors Association chair Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee said in a statement that “Governor-Elect Patrick Morrisey has proven himself as a relentless defender of West Virginia’s conservative values and a national leader in the fight against the Biden Administration.”