Jim Justice has the support of one of the two men he defeated in the Democratic primary for governor; the other is holding off.
State Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, who came in third in the May primary, endorsed Justice this week, saying that he wished Justice was "a little more progressive" but that he would be a necessary check should the Legislature remain in Republican control.
Booth Goodwin, the former U.S. attorney for Southern West Virginia who edged Kessler in the primary but still came in a distant second to Justice, said he has not made up his mind on who he supports in the governor's race.
"I really haven't settled on that quite yet; I'm still working through that," Goodwin, who comes from a family with a storied history in state Democratic politics, said. "I want to make sure that the person that I support is willing to lead and not just say the things that people want to hear, but rather do the things and stand for the things that I think we need as a state."
Justice, who faces Republican Senate President Bill Cole in the general election, won more votes than Kessler and Goodwin combined in the primary, while also spending about four times as much on his primary campaign (the vast majority of it his own money) as the other two candidates combined.
Mountain Party candidate Charlotte Pritt and David Moran, a Libertarian, are also running for governor.
Kessler, who will leave the Senate this year after nearly 20 years in office, cited legislation passed by Republicans since they took power in the Legislature two years ago -- right-to-work, prevailing wage repeal, judicial reforms -- as reason to oppose Cole, and support Justice.
"Honestly I wish he was a little more progressive," Kessler said. "But I've seen Bill [Cole] and the Republican agenda in action, the ALEC agenda, the war on workers and teachers, and I just don't think that's the way to go. This trickle down economics doesn't work."
He cited Republican legislation that was strongly opposed by trial lawyers and labor unions -- traditional Democratic constituencies.
"They attack lawyers because lawyers are big contributors to the Democratic Party. Next year it was labor, big war on labor," he said. "A lot of the Republican agenda has not been based so much on advancing good policy initiatives as on consolidating political power."
Both Goodwin and Kessler talked about the need to diversify West Virginia's economy, with Kessler saying he wished both candidates would be less in thrall to the coal industry.
"I would just like to see somebody willing to get away from this 'war on coal' mantra," Kessler said. "It's a terrible falsehood and it's counterproductive."
Goodwin said he was not ready to endorse until he heard more specific policy details from the candidates.
The lack of specifics is a charge that both Goodwin and Kessler leveled at Justice during the primary. Among other things Justice has refused to offer a specific, immediate plan for West Virginia's ongoing budget woes (either higher taxes, less spending or both) and has declined to say who he supports for president (Goodwin also declined to support a presidential candidate during the primary).
"I'm not hearing a lot of specifics, I'm hearing a lot of platitudes," Goodwin said. "I think the difficulty a lot of people are having is they want a real plan, they want to see a path forward, they might not agree with everything, but they at least want some specifics."
Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.