(NewsNation) — NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ has called the race for the U.S. Senate seat for West Virginia in favor of Jim Justice. See all West Virginia race results here.

Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice faced Wheeling’s Democratic Mayor Glenn Elliott in a race to fill the seat left open by independent Sen. Joe Manchin, who held the seat for 14 years. Manchin, 76, had been the only Democrat to hold a West Virginia statewide office before registering as an independent in May.

Manchin’s departure from the Democratic Party and decision not to run again caused the strong possibility that Democrats could lose their slim control of the Senate. Senate races in several battleground states — Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — will all determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years.

Justice has served as the state’s governor since 2017. A former Democrat, Justice was elected to office representing the party but then shifted over to the GOP once he was in office. The governor and his family own dozens of companies, and he has a net worth valued at around $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.

As governor, Justice signed a ban on abortion in all stages of pregnancy in the state in 2022 and has maintained his position during his 2024 Senate bid. He has also built his platform on issues including confirming conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court, preservation of the Second Amendment and “work to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill,” building a border wall and resuming “Trump-era policies that drastically curtailed the flood of illegal immigrants and drugs across our southern border,” among others. 

Elliott, an attorney, has served as Wheeling’s mayor since 2016. Before being elected, Elliott ran a private law practice in the city after previously working as a legislative aide in Washington to the late U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd.

Embracing the role of an underdog, Elliott ran his campaign as a Democrat, stressing the importance of unions building the American middle class as well as building a stronger economy for the state’s residents. He is in favor of abortion rights and made women’s reproductive rights a key issue of his campaign. He has said he would support federal legislation that would restore abortion rights to women nationwide.

West Virginia has been a Republican stronghold for decades since former Democratic President Bill Clinton’s reelection in 1996. Republican presidential candidates have won the state by wide margins in each election from 2000 to 2016. Former President Donald Trump defeated President Joe Biden by 39 points in the state, representing Trump’s largest margin of victory outside of Wyoming.

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Less than a month before the election, The Hill/ Decision Desk HQ Election Center forecast that Justice had a nearly 100% chance of winning the West Virginia Senate race, flipping the seat from blue to red. He also outraised and outspent his Democratic rival, raising more than $3.6 million to Elliott’s $251,062 and spending more than $2.8 million to Elliott’s $181,927, according to Open Secrets. 

This was one of eight open Senate races where the incumbent did not run for reelection. The outcome of this race will affect the balance of power in the Senate. A total of 34 seats are up in 2024, with 23 being held by Democrats and independents. Republicans can retake control of the upper chamber of Congress by flipping two seats from Democrats or by winning the presidential race and flipping just one other seat.