Coal baron tests Trump’s influence in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The polls closed in West Virginia where Republican voters on Tuesday were deciding the fate of Don Blankenship, a GOP outsider who has embraced Donald Trump’s political playbook — but was opposed by the president — in an election that could play prominently in the fight for the Senate majority this fall.
The polls also closed in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio.
Trump and his allies in Washington warned West Virginia Republicans against supporting Blankenship, who served a year in prison for his role in a disaster that killed 29 miners and more recently attacked the Asian heritage of the top Senate Republican’s wife. The White House worried that Blankenship’s baggage would make it all but impossible to defeat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November.
Yet it was unclear whether voters heeded that warning, even in the state where Trump claimed his largest margin of victory — 42 points over Hillary Clinton — in 2016.
West Virginia voter Wayne Sturgeon, who voted for Blankenship, said he’s a Trump supporter but was bothered by the White House intrusion. “I think it should be left up to the people,” Sturgeon said.
Blankenship embraced Trump’s tactics — casting himself as a victim of government persecution and seizing on xenophobia, if not racism, to stand out in a crowded Republican field that includes state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Republican Congressman Evan Jenkins.
Meanwhile, incumbent Joe Manchin won the Democratic Senate primary in West Virginia, easily defeating challenger Paula Jean Swearengin.
With Manchin’s win, he’ll seek a second six-year term in November.
The West Virginia Republican Senate contest headlined a slate of primary elections across four states Tuesday that will help shape the political landscape in the midterm elections.
In Indiana, businessman Mike Braun won the Republican Senate primary, advancing to face Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly.
Braun ran as an outsider, blasting Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer as “career politicians” who failed to follow through on campaign promises.
The multimillionaire owns Meyer Distributing, a national auto parts distribution business. He largely selffinanced his own campaign.
It was an outcome few expected when Braun launched his campaign in August against the two wellestablished political brands, who have collectively served about 25 years in elected office. One choice was easy for Hoosier Republicans: Greg Pence won the primary for the congressional seat his younger brother, Vice President Mike Pence, once held. Greg Pence, a Marine veteran, defeated four others Tuesday in the 6th District race and will be the favorite to win the seat in November.
In Ohio, Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine, one of the state’s best-known politicians, and Democrat Richard Cordray, who headed a federal consumer protection agency in the Obama administration, are headed into their third career match-up this fall after a raucous roller-coaster of a primary season left them damaged as they seek to replace GOP Gov. John Kasich.
DeWine’s victory over Kasich’s lieutenant governor, Mary Taylor, followed a bitter and expensive campaign in which Taylor likened DeWine’s record to that of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and questioned his loyalty to Trump.
DeWine, 71, served two terms in the U.S. Senate. Cordray, 59, faced a primary challenge from former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Also in Ohio, a woman who accused Trump of sexually harassing her more than a decade ago claimed the Democratic nomination in a race to represent an area southeast of Toledo in the state House of Representatives.
Democrat Rachel Crooks, 35, a university administrator, ran unopposed but must next win a November general election to become the first Trump accuser to hold elected office.
In North Carolina, Republicans weighed in on GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger, who faced a primary challenger who almost upset him two years ago.
Pittenger featured Trump prominently in his campaign, while challenger Mark Harris, a prominent Charlotte pastor, called Pittenger a creature of Washington who refuses to help Trump “drain that swamp.”