As the 2022 elections approached with some Republican Senate candidates on the ropes, Senator Mitch McConnell was already looking ahead to 2024. He saw opportunity in the person of Jim Justice, the popular Republican governor of West Virginia whose term would — fortuitously for Mr. McConnell — end in 2024.
“Here we had a guy who was term-limited and who everybody assumed was going to just go off into the sunset,” recounted Mr. McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader. “But he had to-die-for numbers.”
Mr. McConnell secretly flew to West Virginia on Oct. 19, 2022. Over lunch at Governor Justice’s home, he tried to interest him in running for Senate. In April 2023, Mr. Justice announced he would seek the seat held…
