GOP tries to block one of its own
Republicans want no part of W.Va. candidate
WASHINGTON – For an “outsider,” former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has done a good job of uniting the Republican Party — against him.
Before West Virginia’s GOP Senate primary Tuesday, the party’s disparate voices united in a chorus of alarm and opposition.
From President Trump to his oft-rival Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Republicans warned voters against Blankenship, who served a one-year sentence on a misdemeanor conviction related to a coal mine explosion that killed 29 men in 2010.
The most recent public poll by Fox News put Blankenship in third place behind the front-runner, Rep. Evan Jenkins, and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey before the primary.
Republicans feared Blankenship’s baggage could sink their general election chances in a state Trump won in a landslide.
West Virginia is represented by a Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin.
Republicans want to avoid a failure like Alabama’s special election in December, when candidate Roy Moore cost the GOP a Senate seat after allegations emerged that he sexually abused several teenagers.
“Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State ... No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” Trump tweeted Monday.
Flake said he would donate to Manchin if Blankenship won.
The Arizona senator said it’s not enough for Republicans to say they won’t support Blankenship just because he can’t win a general election.
“We ought to say we will never support a candidate like that, even if he is our nominee. You just don’t do that,” Flake said.
Several GOP candidates in Tuesday’s other primaries in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina campaigned as outsiders, but Blankenship waged his primary bid for Senate while still on supervised release from prison.
His sentence ended in May 2017, and his period of supervised release ends Wednesday, the day after the primary, according to court records.
Blankenship said he’s a victim of the “corrupt” Obama administration’s Justice Department, and he blamed the “establishment” for misinforming Trump about him.
Mainstream Republican leaders don’t want him promoting the president’s agenda in the Senate, Blankenship said.
Blankenship repeatedly attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., after a super PAC with ties to McConnell spent more than $1.3 million on TV and digital ads to oppose Blankenship.
A Blankenship ad says the Kentucky Republican got rich off his “China family,” a reference to the family of McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, the secretary of Transportation.
Flake said such inflammatory statements have been normalized since the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump talked about Mexico sending “rapists” to this country.
“Words have meaning, and this is one of the outcomes of that, unfortunately,” he said.