CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Recently retired U.S. Senator Joe Manchin sat just a few feet from West Virginia’s new chief executive, Gov. Patrick Morrisey, at Morrisey’s inauguration Monday and he had a flashback. “It was 20 years ago this month that Gayle and I were here and I was inaugurated as governor,” Manchin said reflecting back to January 2005.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed a number of socially conservative laws during his two terms in office. But he rarely pushed for them. The Democrat-turned-Republican, now heading to the U.S. Senate to take over the seat of former Independent U.
Justice’s West Virginia colleague, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), accompanied him as Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley (R-IA) administered the oath of office on Tuesday afternoon. Justice’s family was then invited for a separate ceremonial swearing-in minutes later in the Old Senate Chamber.