Jim Justice

James Conley Justice II (born April 27, 1951) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the 36th governor of West Virginia since 2017.

Justice was once a billionaire, but his net worth had declined to $513.3 million as of 2021.

He inherited a coal mining business from his father and built a business empire with 94 companies, including the Greenbrier, a luxury resort in White Sulphur Springs.

He founded Bluestone Farms in 1977, which now operates 50,000 acre of farmland, and is the leading producer of grain on the East Coast of the United States.

During that time, he also developed Stoney Brook Plantation, a 15,000-acre hunting and fishing preserve in Monroe County.

Justice is a seven-time national corn growing champion.

After his father's death in 1993, Justice inherited ownership of Bluestone Industries and Bluestone Coal Corporation.

In 2009, he sold some of his coal business to the Russian company Mechel for $568 million.

Justice serves as the owner or chief executive officer of over 50 companies, including the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, which he bought for $20.5 million in 2009, preventing its bankruptcy.

As of 2014, Justice owned 70 active mines in five states.

His charitable activities have included $25 million for the James C. Justice National Scout Camp at Summit Bechtel Reserve, $5 million for Marshall University, and $10 million to the Cleveland Clinic.

Justice initiated the annual holiday gift drive "Dream Tree for Kids" that gives away more than $1 million in Christmas gifts to children in need.

Before taking office as governor, Justice resigned from all the executive positions he held.

He placed his daughter Jill in charge of the Greenbrier and his son Jay in charge of his mining and agriculture businesses.

He said he would place all his assets in a blind trust, but that the process would take time because of their complexity.

In 2015, Justice announced his candidacy for governor in the 2016 West Virginia gubernatorial election.

Although a registered Republican before running for governor, he ran as a Democrat and defeated the Republican nominee, Bill Cole.

Less than seven months after taking office, Justice switched back to the Republican Party after announcing his plans at a rally with U.S. president Donald Trump in the state.

In 2015, after a huge drop in the price of coal led Mechel to close some of the mines, he bought the business back for $5 million.

Since buying back the mine from Mechel, Justice reopened several of the mines and hired over 200 miners.

In 2015, Justice declared his candidacy for governor of West Virginia in the 2016 election as a member of the Democratic Party.

He had been a registered member of the Republican Party until changing his registration in February 2015.

Justice's mining companies have been scrutinized for alleged cases of safety violation and unpaid taxes; in 2016, NPR called him the nation's "top mine safety delinquent".

Justice allegedly owed millions of dollars to the government in back taxes and unpaid coal mining fees and fines.

Two debt-related lawsuits were settled in 2019, and in 2020 mining companies Justice or his family owned agreed to pay $5 million in delinquent safety fines.

In the 2020 gubernatorial race, he was reelected over Democratic challenger Ben Salango.

On April 27, 2023, Justice announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States Senate election in West Virginia, looking to unseat incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin.

On November 9, despite having filed paperwork to run for reelection, Manchin announced that he would retire at the end of his term, leaving the seat open.

James Conley Justice II was born in Charleston, West Virginia, the son of James Conley Justice and Edna Ruth (née Perry) Justice.

Justice grew up in Raleigh County, West Virginia.

He enrolled at the University of Tennessee on an athletic scholarship for golf, but transferred to Marshall University.

At Marshall, he was a two-year captain on the Thundering Herd golf team.

He earned his bachelor's degree and Master of Business Administration from Marshall.

After college, Justice went into the family agriculture business.

According to a 2020 ProPublica investigation, Justice had paid more than $128 million in judgments and settlements over his businesses' unpaid bills.

In October 2023, a federal court ordered the U.S. Marshal to seize and sell a helicopter the company owned to pay an $8 million judgment granted to a creditor.

Forbes estimated Justice's net worth at $513.3 million as of October 2021.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Justice and his family's businesses received between $11 million and $24 million in aid through the Paycheck Protection Program.

His luxury resort, the Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, received a loan of between $5 million and $10 million.

The company did not promise to retain any jobs in exchange for the loan, which the Greenbrier would have to repay if it did not use at least 60% of the funds for payroll.