Jim Justice

“2022 was the biggest tourism year ever in West Virginia”

PolitiFact says: Spending by travelers to West Virginia set a record in 2022. However, tourism-supported jobs fell to a level unseen since 2007, and tax revenue from tourism fell slightly from 2021 levels.

“Credit card debt is above $1 trillion for the FIRST TIME EVER.”

PolitiFact says: Numerically, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is right. However, focusing on the absolute value ignores that consumer debt is shrinking compared with the broader U.S. economy.

“Under Jim Justice,” West Virginia had “the lowest unemployment rate in state history.”

PolitiFact says: In 2023, West Virginia’s unemployment rate fell as low as 3.3% for three months. Before Justice’s tenure, the state’s record low was 4.4%. How much credit Justice should get is less clear.

“West Virginia “is the only state to decline in population over the last 70 years”

PolitiFact says: According to official Census data, West Virginia is the only state to see its population decline between 1950 and 2019.

“We're now at 108.1% of the vaccines received that we've put in arms, meaning that we've got more vaccines out of the vials and absolutely not throwing a single one away.”

PolitiFact says: Vials of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine include an “extra” dose, and the state has consistently been able to inject those additional doses.

“West Virginia has one of the greatest percentages of veterans in any state.”

PolitiFact says: The most recent data available, from 2018, shows that 7.98% of West Virginians are veterans, ranking it seventh among the 50 states.

“West Virginia is the state with the oldest population.”

PolitiFact says: Justice has a point that West Virginia has an older population than many states, and as recently as two decades ago it did rank No. 1. However, today, it’s not the oldest, by two different measures.

“Jim Justice is the first West Virginia governor to fight for pay raises for educators.”

“Says a new annual report shows that "West Virginia’s tourism industry has grown for the second consecutive year, reversing years of decline and outpacing national growth by 58 percent.”

“China today is "burning seven to eight times the amount of coal that we’re burning in the United States.”

“Our WV highways rank 16th in the country in a national survey of highway systems, up 20 spots from last year’s ranking! This ranking affirms all the hard work we’ve done, and that we continue to do, fixing our state’s roads.”