West Virginia's Governor Jim Justice has switched his party from Democrat to Republican.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R). The Hill/PBS News Hour. 

In a major win for Republicans, West Virginia's Governor Jim Justice announced that he was switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. The Hill. Justice claimed that the Democrats "left him" and that he couldn't serve the people of West Virginia as a Democrat. Justice is a wealthy coal tycoon who was wooed by both parties before his run. He ran as a Democrat but he was highly critical of Hillary Clinton's presidential run and was one of only a few Democrats not to endorse her. This turned out to be a wise move as Clinton lost West Virginia by 42 points, her worst defeat in the country. Republicans cheered the move, which was officially announced at a Donald Trump rally, while Democrats are understandably furious after spending millions of dollars getting Justice elected. 

My Comment:

Hillary Clinton is still hurting the Democratic Party. I think this is entirely her fault. Why? She destroyed any chance of West Virginia going blue anytime soon with her comments on coal. She told coal workers to their faces that she was going to put them out of work. 

West Virginia is coal country and Hillary Clinton continued the Democratic Party's war on coal. And she did it by specifically saying that she would put coal workers out of work. In her defense she did say that she would help those people, but telling people to their faces that you are coming for their jobs isn't going to play well. 

For that reason, Jim Justice had no choice but to distance himself from Clinton. Had he come out and endorsed Clinton he would have lost against her and lost horribly. Trump won West Virginia by 42 points largely on Clinton's attacks on coal. And the Democratic Party still hasn't learned their lesson. They are still opposed to coal and coal workers and they are unlikely to ever flip on that issue. As long as that is the case they will continue to lose in coal country. 

It's not surprising than that Justice flipped sides. With the Democratic Party so unpopular in West Virginia he pretty much had no choice. He would have been a one term Governor. Also, since the GOP controls the legislature, he would have had great difficulty in getting his agenda passed. After switching sides, he will presumably have more support for his plans.

I think Democrats have a right to be furious about this. After all, the Governor's association alone spent $1 million on him, money that is now completely wasted. Justice also handed Trump a major win in what has been a rough time for him politically, with the GOP congress failing to pass healthcare reform. If this had gone the opposite way, with a GOP Governor flipping to the Democrats, I would be furious as well, so I understand why they are angry about this. It's an obvious betrayal even if they didn't leave Justice with much choice. 

The damage is worse than just losing one governors seat. Right now the Democratic Party is as weak as it has ever been. The majority of US states, 26, are now completely controlled by the Republican Party. That means they hold both the Governor's seat and the legislature. Republicans also control 32 state legislatures and 34 Governor's seats. This is about as bad as it could possibly be. 

It almost seems that the Democratic Party is as weak as it can get, but it could get worse for them if they preform poorly in the 2018 midterms. The Democrats have to defend 23 seats while the Republicans only have to protect 8. 10 of those 23 seats are in states that Trump won. Though historically midterms have been rough for the President's party, if things go badly for the Democrats they will essentially be wiped out. 

Will that happen? Good question. I tend to underplay the importance of Donald Trump's supposed unpopularity, but I do think that the GOP really hurt themselves by not passing healthcare and their seeming opposition to Trump's agenda. A lot of the Republican Party's base is asking themselves why they should vote for a party that won't do a damn thing they were elected to do. That could give the Democrats an opening. Not because the Democrat's platform is popular, but because the Trump faction of the GOP might just stay home rather than vote for RINO's. 

If the GOP does have trouble in 2018, they only have themselves to blame. Jim Justice flipping is just another example of the absolute chaos in the Democratic Party. They are split between socialism and social justice and have followed an extremely unpopular and unelectable presidential candidate to the edge of oblivion. A competent party could push them over that cliff with out effort. But the GOP is not a competent party...