A stalwart Republican opponent of former President Barack Obama’s environmental regulations looks to be in prime position to take out Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in 2018.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s battles against the Environmental Protection Agency combined with the rise of President Trump’s populist politics have made the terrain in the state increasingly favorable for an opportunistic Republican. And Morrisey knows it.
“Senator Manchin is in a very challenging predicament because he’s trying to walk a very narrow tightrope and shift his positions from where they were previously, in order to try to move to the right and get closer to President Trump,” Morrisey told the Washington Examiner at the Republican Attorneys General Association winter meetings in Washington. “Joe Manchin is a very skilled politician and I have a lot of respect for him as a person, but it’s becoming an increasingly narrow pathway forward because you want to be the person that supports West Virginia values and speaks for the vast majority of West Virginia citizens, and his pathway toward re-election is increasingly problematic.”
Morrisey avoided talking about whether a path exists for him to defeat Manchin, but noted he still has quite some time before the state’s filing deadline requires an answer from him.
“My focus remains on my job, I’m fortunate to be the attorney general of one of the greatest places on the face of the earth,” Morrisey said when asked about his interest in running for the U.S. Senate next year. “We’re trying to do more and more to go after fraud, waste and abuse and create a Medicaid fraud unit in our office and we’re trying to turn around some of the single most burdensome and illegal regulations in our country’s history. I’d like to make even more progress on those issues, and if we’re successful, there’ll be plenty of time to talk about other things but for right now I’m going to be laser focused on these EPA regs and other issues, and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
Morrisey’s action against the EPA last year led to the halt of Obama’s “Clean Power Plan,” which looks well on its way to defeat by Trump’s administration. Morrisey led the charge alongside 27 other states against the Obama regulation that the states said aimed at shuttering every power plant that burns coal as fuel. The power plan remains in litigation before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but Morrisey and company a year ago won a stay from the Supreme Court that blocked the regulation’s implementation.
“The administrative state has been out of control over the last eight years and it’s been no more evident than with respect to EPA regulations,” Morrisey said. “The Clean Power Plan victory was a resounding success for the state of West Virginia because if we saved hundreds or thousands of jobs as a result of gaining that stay, that matters to our people. Coal is a lifeblood of West Virginia and coal jobs are critically important, but when you eliminate a coal job, you’re not only eliminating one job.”
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to block implementation of Obama’s power plan until all litigation has been resolved came days before Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, and his vote in the case proved decisive. As the Senate prepares to consider Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination later this month, Morrisey thinks Trump hit a home run by selecting the Coloradan for the high court.
Manchin has met with Gorsuch but avoided making comments on whether the Democratic senator will support Trump’s high court pick. Morrisey lauded Gorsuch’s “impeccable background” and said any effort to delay the confirmation process is pure politics.
“My hope is that Judge Gorsuch will get confirmed and that his philosophy of having that healthy skepticism about federal agencies will take further root within the Supreme Court,” Morrisey said. “We believe that his record on administrative law matters is outstanding and West Virginians really care deeply about that.”
Conservative groups including the Judicial Crisis Network, Tea Party Patriots, Concerned Veterans for America and the Faith and Freedom Coalition have targeted Manchin’s position on Gorsuch in ads, mailers and grassroots campaigns. The looming battle over Gorsuch’s bid will not only affect the direction of the judiciary for years to come, but could change the makeup of the legislature. If conservatives succeed at bruising Manchin, Morrisey may be best positioned to capitalize.
