UP IN THE AIR – Gov. Jim Justice speaks to the press at his Greenbrier Resort Nov. 5 following his victory in the election for U.S. Senate. Justice said Tuesday he had not decided when he would officially transition from West Virginia’s Governor’s Office to the U.S. Senate. -- Steven Allen Adams

CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice – the incoming junior U.S. senator for West Virginia – has not come to a decision on when he will resign as the state’s 36th governor between Jan. 3 and the Jan. 13 inauguration of Governor-Elect Patrick Morrisey.

New members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives can be sworn in as early as Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. Justice’s election on Nov. 5 helped secure a 53-seat majority for the Republicans in the Senate heading into 2025. But Justice said he is still deciding when he will take office.

“We haven’t decided absolutely yet,” he said Tuesday afternoon during his weekly administration briefing from the State Capitol Building. “We’ll look at all the stuff and try to fit everything into the box and everything and make it all work as best we possibly can. But we haven’t decided yet.”

Justice – first elected as a Democrat for governor in 2016, switching to Republican one year later – has more than a month left in his second and final four-year term as the state’s chief executive. He will succeed U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., who declined to seek re-election for a third six-year term and switched voter registration from the Democratic Party to unaffiliated earlier this year.

Morrisey, the Republican attorney general, won his election earlier this month to succeed Justice and become West Virginia’s 37th governor. According to the state Constitution, the governor and other constitutional officers of the executive branch begin their terms on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in January, which will be Jan. 13, 2025.

If Justice were to resign during the six-day period between Jan. 3 and Jan. 8, 2025, that would create a vacancy in the governor’s office, requiring Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, to assume the responsibilities of governor. The senate president carries the honorary title of lieutenant governor, but the state Constitution names the senate president the next in the line of succession.

Blair has served as senate president since 2021 following the defeat of his predecessor, former Republican Jackson County Sen. Mitch Carmichael, in the May 2020 GOP primary to current Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, R-Mason. But Blair was also defeated in the May 2024 primary by Berkeley County attorney Tom Willis, who won his general election contest earlier this month.

The first and last time a senate president assumed the temporary responsibilities of governor was 2010 when Manchin – then in his second term as governor – won a special election to fill the remaining term of Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who died earlier that year. Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democratic state senator from Logan County, briefly acted as governor until he won a special election for the office in 2011.

The state Senate created the temporary position of acting senate president so that there would not be a conflict with Tomblin serving as the senate president while acting as governor. Former Democratic Marshall County Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeffrey V. Kessler served as the acting senate president until Tomblin’s election as governor. Kessler was later elected formally as senate president, serving until the Republicans took the Senate majority in 2015.

Republicans in the state Senate will caucus on Sunday, Dec. 8, to select their nominee for the next senate president. Senate Republicans picked up an additional seat in the 34-member body, with the Democratic Senate caucus decreasing from three members to two.

The Legislature will gavel in for one day on Wednesday, Jan. 8, to officially open and publish the results of the Nov. 5 election, and to elect the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Delegates. The Legislature will then adjourn until Wednesday, Feb. 12, the beginning of the annual 60-day general session.

If Justice has resigned to take his U.S. Senate seat prior to Jan. 8, the next senate president succeeding Blair would also have to act as governor for another six days until Morrisey takes the oath of office on Jan. 13. Justice admitted that resigning prior to Jan. 13 and having as many as two acting governors could be problematic.

“It seems to me like we have all kinds of confusion if I do it prior to the 13th,” Justice said.

If Justice waits until the eve of Jan. 13 to resign as governor and take his U.S. Senate seat, that could affect his ranking in seniority among his fellow senators. The level of a senator’s seniority often determines the types of committee assignments and leadership positions for which a member could be eligible. It could also affect the kinds of projects and federal funding Justice is able to secure.

But there is precedence for a governor waiting to resign until the inauguration of his successor. Former two-term Democratic Gov. Jay Rockefeller was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984. He officially took his U.S. Senate seat on Jan. 15, 1985 – the day after previous two-term Republican Gov. Arch Moore took office for a third four-year team.

Justice said Tuesday his only concern is continuing to do his job as governor while he has the opportunity, while also preparing for his new responsibilities representing the state in the U.S. Senate.

“Everybody’s got to know that I took it on very, very, very seriously being your governor,” Justice said. “It’s the honor of my life in every way being your governor, and I don’t want to shirk any responsibility being your governor. At the same time, you were kind enough to elect me as your senator, and I want to do the greatness (sic) for this nation and absolutely continue to try to do everything I can possibly do for West Virginia as well.”