West Virginia Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey took a strong stance against transgender people during his campaign and during his time as attorney general. (Getty Images)
Last week’s election went as we expected in West Virginia — Republicans won big. We’ll have another Republican governor, our only non-Republican congressional seat flipped red, and the supermajority in the state Legislature grew.
Gov. Jim Justice will be heading to the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., with Babydog in tow, but it sounds like he might be leaving his wife Cathy behind. Just after winning his election, the governor appointed his wife to the state Board of Education for a nine-year term.
Members of the West Virginia Board of Education must be residents of the state, but the Justices should technically be spending a lot of time in D.C. as often as the Senate is in session.
When questioned during his Thursday administrative briefing about the appointment, Justice said “There’s no way I could find someone, no matter where they are, that’s more qualified than Cathy Justice for this job.”
The governor said Cathy has a secondary education degree from Marshall University, and her biography on the state’s website has a brief mention of her being a substitute teacher in Raleigh County.
Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., also appointed his wife Gayle Manchin to the state Board of Education after he was elected to the Senate, but she has extensive credentials — a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in reading, as well as years of teaching in Marion County public schools and at Fairmont State University.
Justice was not known for being present much during his time as governor. It took a lawsuit for him to agree to live in the Governor’s Mansion in Charleston, and even after he lost, he still drove in from Lewisburg to the Capitol on days when he was actually at the Capitol. He’s been on the record multiple times saying “not a fiber” of him wants to go to D.C.
During his latest briefing, he said he plans to travel back and forth “a lot” and hopes to be in West Virginia “an awful lot.” He’s also said he’ll continue to coach his high school girls basketball team.
“I am the most impatient guy in the room all the time, all the time. I am respectful,” said Justice, who has been late for almost every virtual administrative briefing, as well as public events.
Leading up to the election, Justice has said that he wants to be placed on the Energy Committee or Finance Committee. He and his family have a long history of financial troubles. Most recently, their property The Greenbrier Hotel was almost put up for auction because of a default on the loan. The family then refinanced with another bank to delay an auction on the property.
As Justice would say: For cryin’ out loud.
One thing about Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey is that he will be more present in Charleston than Justice ever was. That could be bad or good, depending on what he’s working on.
For public school teachers, it’s not looking great. Morrisey, who claimed to be an advocate for teachers during the one gubernatorial debate, spoke out against teachers striking in 2018, saying that their strike for better wages and benefits was “unlawful” and that he was ready to act.
West Virginia is a state with a rich history of unions fighting for their rights. I guess we’ll have to excuse the New Jersey native Morrisey for ignoring that history.
During his acceptance speech, Morirsey said he wants to expand the state’s school choice laws. The Hope Scholarship is already the broadest education savings account (aka school voucher program) in the nation. It provides $4,400 per student for private school or homeschooling and has little restrictions. Starting in 2026, the scholarship will be available to all West Virginia students. How can this be any more broad?
Meanwhile, West Virginia’s teacher pay is the worst in the country, and the Public Employees Insurance Agency has proposed premium hikes of 14% to 16%.
As attorney general, Morrisey last year filed lawsuits about one transgender child who just wanted to participate on her school’s track team.
Last year, the Legislature failed to pass the Women’s Bill of Rights, which is a deceptively named anti-trans bill that did little for any women, while actively harming transgender women. That bill is sure to come up again this year and might have more traction with Morrisey.
Morrisey is a big supporter of President-elect Donald Trump and bragged often about being the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to endorse Trump. It’s likely Morrisey will also support Project 2025, a plan written by people who worked in Trump’s first administration. The plan includes eliminating abortion access, mass deportations, abusing warrantless surveillance and rolling back transgender rights, among many other things.
Project 2025 has a section called “The Family Agenda,” which states that “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them,” and that the Health and Human Services Department should “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.”
Sorry single moms. Sorry LGBTQ parents. Sorry people who aren’t Christian. At least you’ll have cheap gas and groceries. Just kidding. Trump’s tariffs proposals will cost you over $2,600 a year.
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