CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice issued the following statement over the weekend:

“The pattern of behavior by Delegate Joe Jeffries (R-Putnam) is sad and it’s childish. Not only did he yell graphic comments about me to a group of senators during the recent Legislative Session, but now we find that his not-so-secret TikTok is full of disgustingly vulgar videos, which are especially insulting to women. This is the behavior of an immature child, not a 39-year-old father and elected official. He owes our entire state an apology for not living up to what we all deserve and expect from our elected officials.

“I assumed that by this morning we would have received that apology, but all he has done is hide from the media and the criticism.

“So today I am calling on Joe to immediately resign from the House of Delegates. The people of West Virginia, and certainly those in Joe’s district, deserve much better.

“I agree with Speaker Hanshaw (R-Clay) that Joe is an embarrassment to our entire state. His actions are casting another shadow of negativity on West Virginia, which is something we certainly don’t need. Our state is breaking surplus records, attracting new businesses, and moving forward in absolute leaps and bounds because people are waking up to the fact that we are the diamond in the rough that everyone missed. We don’t need this kind of nonsense to distract us from achieving more success.”