Don Blankenship’s weird, race-baiting Senate campaign comes to an end

That’s one message from Tuesday’s primaries, where the GOP improved its chances of holding the Senate, if not the House.

Blankenship said he doesn’t believe the ad cost him votes, “because unlike the media, I think West Virginians understand that “China people” is not different than ‘Appalachia people, ‘ no different than ‘West Virginia people'”. In one of his ads, Braun walked around with cardboard cutouts of his two opponents, asking ordinary Indianans if they could tell the difference (they couldn’t); another ad fictionalized the three candidates as grade-school children, with the kid versions of Messer and Rokita in suits and ties, campaigning for their classmates’ votes-“When I’m in Congress, maybe one of you will be my driver. See?” Maybe they wanted President Donalad Trump to issue a statement against Blankenship.

Mike Braun, a former state legislator turned businessman, beat out House Reps.

And while President Donald Trump emerged from the first batch of primaries with clear political victories, the same can’t be said for those seeking to borrow and build on his campaign playbook.

Republicans had primary races in West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio.

Brown, the Democratic incumbent, has always been tough on trade, and he praised Trump’s moves to raise tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Republicans went to the polls on Tuesday to choose nominees in three key Senate races on one of the biggest primary days of 2018 – and they did not squander a trio of their best pickup opportunities.

The race was the highlight of primary contests in four states that showed how completely Trump has taken over the Republican Party, with candidates in all the major races competing to prove the depth of their allegiance to him. By itself, Donald Trump’s signature legislative achievement remains the most unpopular tax cut in modern American history.

“The Republican Party had a great night”, Trump wrote on Twitter. “When he’s in IN he acts like one of us, but in Washington he votes against us, against President Trump and in lockstep with the Democrats”, Braun said.

But Tuesday’s turnout, where Republicans outvoted Democrats by almost two to one, doesn’t bode well for Donnelly.

Morrisey will face Democrat Senator Joe Manchin, who is widely considered to be a weaker incumbent in the U.S. Senate.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the U.S. Senate race from “leans Democrat” to “toss-up” on Wednesday. Joe Manchin in the November election.

In West Virginia, ex-coal mining executive Don Blankenship is running on a promise to upend the establishment, much like Trump. “Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” “And compared to the 2014 midterm, Republican turnout was up 61% yesterday, compared to just a 14% increase for Democrats”. Morrisey stepped into limelight back in 2015 when he sued President Barack Obama’s administration over a climate change plan. And in central OH, a tea-party-style insurgent came within a few hundred votes of defeating the handpicked favorite of the recently retired Republican congressman, Patrick J. Tiberi, a close ally of House leadership.

Rep. Jim Renacci in OH lived up to expectations by winning his party’s Senate primary.

OH voters also went to the polls to choose candidates in the election to succeed Republican Governor John Kasich, who is prohibited from running again by term limits.

In North Carolina’s 13th District, Democrat Kathy Manning will face incumbent Ted Budd, who was uncontested for the GOP nomination.

Trump, who scored a decisive victory in OH over Hillary Clinton in 2016 after Obama carried the state twice, sent a congratulatory Tweet for DeWine, a former US senator. “He will be a great Governor with a heavy focus on HealthCare and Jobs”.