Jim Justice looks past his business struggles and declares himself a Senate winner in West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — More than a month before the Nov. 5 election, Jim Justice declared victory in his Senate race in deeply Republican West Virginia, a chest thump at the same time the two-term governor was in a behind-the-scenes fight to keep some of his family businesses in good standing.

In a state where Donald Trump won every county in the past two presidential elections, Justice crowned himself as the runaway successor to retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, whose seat had been one of the last lines of defense for Democrats trying to preserve their slim majority.

“I say over and over, judge me by my deeds,” Justice told reporters on Sept. 19.

That challenge could have had another meaning, serving as a reminder about the banks, creditors, federal agencies and others who have hounded Justice for years to pay his debts, including loan defaults, late payments, court fines. He's faced threats of foreclosure. Early in his administration, the governor was sued for not living in the governor's mansion in Charleston as required by law, and when he was there, his list of accomplishments wasn't particularly long or noteworthy.