FIRST ON FOX: West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, will make an “important announcement” next week as rumors about his future political ambitions swirl.
The announcement from Morrisey, who has served as the Mountain State’s top law enforcement official since 2013, comes after he said in November he was “seriously evaluating” a gubernatorial run or launching a second bid for the Senate in 2024, posing a potential threat to incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
While it is unclear whether he will seek a position in the U.S. Senate or the governor’s mansion, Morrisey will make the announcement from Jefferson County, West Virginia, on April 4 and then launch a statewide tour to speak with voters, a source familiar with Morrisey’s plans told Fox News Digital.
“No matter what he decides to run for, Patrick Morrisey will be the candidate to beat,” West Virginia State Sen. Patricia Rucker told Fox News ahead of the announcement. “Patrick has demonstrated in all of the years I have known him that he is a fierce fighter, committed to his principles, and leadership like his is exactly what we need.”
WEST VIRGINIA AG MORRISEY ‘SERIOUSLY EVALUATING’ 2024 SENATE RUN, POSING THREAT TO MANCHIN
Last November, Morrisey, who lost his 2018 Senate bid to Manchin by less than 20,000 votes, told Fox News Digital that if he were to run for Senate again it would be a “very, very smooth transition” because of the work he is doing already.
In a letter to supporters the same month that was headlined “Big news coming,” Morrisey wrote: “I’m ready for these new fights — and likely a new position in 2025 — because I am already leading in the arena and regularly beating back the Biden agenda.”
The letter came the same day West Virginia GOP Rep. Alex Mooney announced he will run as a Republican in the state’s 2024 election against Manchin.
Asked what would make him a better candidate should he decide to challenge Manchin a second time, Morrisey told Fox last year: “I think that the threats from the Biden administration against our freedoms are things that are fundamental to our state and our nation, and I’m out in front leading against them, fighting against them right now.”
“If I were to go into the U.S. Senate, we’d be ready on day one to take on the woke culture, to lead against the Green New Deal, to make sure that we’re keeping deadly fentanyl out of our communities,” he added. “Those are the things I’m doing now, and it would be a very, very smooth transition to advance those initiatives out of the U.S. Senate.”
Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who is term limited and cannot seek re-election to his current role, is also rumored to be mulling a run for the Senate against Manchin. He was first elected as a Democrat in the 2016 gubernatorial election, but switched parties at a rally with then-President Donald Trump in 2017, and was ultimately re-elected as a Republican in 2020.
Manchin, who’s up for re-election in 2024, has yet to declare whether he will seek to re-election to his seat in the upper chamber.
The West Virginia Democrat faced his toughest challenge in 2018, when he won by only 3%, and could face a tight challenge from GOP candidates as West Virginia grows increasingly Republican. A moderate Democrat who has pushed back against several proposals from the Biden administration, Manchin faced a large swath of criticism within his party as a swing vote for the first two year’s of Biden’s presidency.
Manchin drew national attention when he announced his opposition to Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which needed his vote to pass in the Senate. He continued negotiations with the White House as the bill evolved into the Inflation Reduction Act, which later passed thanks to his vote.
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this article.
