‘It’s been a real honor flying with you’: Justice gives farewell speech to WV lawmakers • West Virginia Watch

Speaking to state lawmakers Wednesday for a final time before he assumes a new role in the U.S. Senate, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice touted his administration’s accomplishments in education, roads and tourism, among others, and promised to continue the nation’s fossil fuel industry. 

“All the surpluses, all the gains, all the tourism, all the roads, all the, all the. You know what we did, we did this together,” Justice told lawmakers. “And you should be very proud. Every last one of all of y’all. Every single last one of you. You restored and gave West Virginia pride and hope. You did. You should never forget that.”

Repeating a saying from his father, Justice told lawmakers it has been “a real honor flying with you. It really has. I absolutely would wish you the best in every way.”

Justice gave his comments before a joint session of the state Legislature in the House of Delegates following swearing-in ceremonies by both bodies. 

Justice, who served two terms as the state’s chief executive, was elected in November to the U.S. Senate. He’ll be sworn into the new role Jan. 13, the day of Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey’s inauguration. 

Justice spoke of turning the state’s deficits into surpluses and touted his $2.8 billion infrastructure program, “Roads to Prosperity,” which rebuilt and maintained roads and bridges across the state.

He admonished the state to always celebrate Oct. 7, the anniversary of when voters approved the issuance of $1.6 billion for the program, as a day the state “pivoted and took off.” 

“Don’t ever, ever not celebrate Oct. 7, because on that day, this whole state took a big turn of where we had been and where we had been for decades,” he said. “Absolutely right then and there, we took off.”

Justice also touted cutting taxes “over and over” and encouraged lawmakers to continue to work toward eliminating the state’s income tax. Lawmakers last fall approved a bill that cut the tax by 2%, eliminating about $46 million a year in state revenue. The governor had initially asked the Legislature to cut the tax by 5%, but he amended his request. 

“I would tell you, don’t lose the mission,” he said. “The faster you can get rid of your personal income tax in West Virginia, this place will flood with people and opportunity over and over and over. You absolutely please keep your mission.”

Justice was first elected West Virginia’s governor in 2016 as a Democrat. The next year, while on stage in Huntington with his friend, then and president-elect Donald Trump, Justice announced he would register as a Republican and leave the Democratic Party. 

Justice said the state has “done a bunch of really good stuff” for education in the state in his time as governor, including giving families the choice of private schooling and homeschooling through the state’s education savings account program Hope Scholarship and expanding the Community In Schools and therapy dog programs.

“We have flipped the script in many ways with our schools, but we got a lot more to do,” he said. “There’s no question we got a lot more to do, and we can improve over and over and over. But the things we’ve done as far as choice, the things we’ve done, as far as the [School Building Authority] the things we have absolutely been able to do because of the fact that we’re economically so sound, it’s unbelievable. We’ve done good stuff, and you should really be proud of that.”

Justice said tourists spent $9 billion in West Virginia in 2024 as the state “became frogs that were proud of our own pond.”

He also bragged that the state “stood rock solid for life.” In 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe V. Wade, lawmakers approved an abortion ban with narrow exceptions. He touted the state’s support of guns, appointment of conservative judges and “not turning a blind eye to the border crisis.”

Justice repeated praise for Trump, saying that lawmakers, for the most part, should “love and respect him,” and said that energy is important for the country’s future. 

Justice, whose family owns several coal companies, has been appointed to the Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources, among others. Justice said energy will be the key to growing the country’s revenue. He said he supports Trump’s plan to “take a meat ax” to spending waste in Washington. 

“The only way civilization has gone forward is that we’re standing and sitting on natural gas reserves, coal reserves,” Justice said. “Absolutely all the alternatives, whether they be solar or wind or whatever, I say, embrace them all, but for God’s sakes a living, don’t be dumb enough to absolutely turn your back on our fossil fuels. Our fossil fuels are critical to us like you can’t imagine.”