page_title: Jim Justice
section_title: Governor of West Virginia
hierarchical_section_title: Jim Justice / Political career / Governor of West Virginia
caption_attribution_description: Photographs by Perry Bennett, Division of Culture and History
context_page_description: James Conley Justice II is an American coal mining and agriculture businessman, who has been serving as the 36th governor of West Virginia since 2017. With a net worth of around $1.9 billion, he is the wealthiest person in West Virginia. He inherited a coal mining business from his father and built a business empire with over 94 companies, including the Greenbrier, a luxury resort.
  In 2015, Justice announced his candidacy for governor in the 2016 West Virginia gubernatorial election. Although Justice was a registered Republican before running for governor, he ran as a Democrat and defeated the Republican nominee, Bill Cole. Less than seven months after taking office, Justice switched back to the Republican Party after announcing his plans at a rally with U.S. president Donald Trump in the state.
context_section_description: Justice took office as governor on January 16, 2017. He is known for using colorful metaphors and digs at political opponents.
  To improve West Virginia's budget situation, he has proposed raising the state's revenue by $450 million, primarily by increasing the consumer sales tax, reinstituting the business and occupation (B & O) tax, and establishing a "rich man's" tax. He also opposed plans to cut health and education spending. On April 13, 2017, while vetoing a budget bill passed by the Republican-controlled West Virginia Legislature, Justice said the bill was "nothing more than a bunch of political you-know-what" and showed a prop featuring bull feces on a print copy of the bill.
  On August 3, 2017, Justice announced that he had rejoined the Republican Party. He made the announcement at a Donald Trump rally in Huntington and also confirmed his support for the sitting president. Justice said that he was returning to the GOP because he could not support President Trump as a member of the Democratic Party. The announcement came as a surprise to his own staff. This also made Justice the first Republican governor of West Virginia since Cecil Underwood in 2001.
  Even after switching to the Republican Party, Justice initially supported incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin for his reelection campaign in the 2018 Senate election in West Virginia. However, later in the general election, Justice endorsed Republican Senate candidate, Patrick Morrisey.
caption: Justice at his inauguration
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