Don Blankenship Vows Revenge Against ‘Corrupt Carpetbagger’

It spent just $47,000 attacking Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a former lobbyist and transplant from New Jersey, who is now the Republican nominee. Wealthy businessman Mike Braun prevailed in IN, defeating a pair of congressmen by emulating the president with an outsider campaign. Ojeda received almost 30,000 votes in the primary, which came close to matching the total combined votes for the top four vote-getters in the GOP primary. According to Politico, Trump called Jenkins but as of Wednesday night had yet to reach out to Morrisey. Evan Jenkins, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP Senate nomination in West Virginia, was touring the plant before Tuesday’s primary election.

The day’s slate of early season elections tested the limits of the anti-establishment fervor that has defined the Trump era.

Despite the incessant claims that West Virginia is a “red state”, supposedly proven by Trump’s 42-point victory margin over Clinton in 2016, more people voted in the Democratic primary than in the hotly contested Republican primary, 160,000 to 136,000.

Movie Time!Sen. Joe Manchin III and his guest Jan Rader, fire chief of Huntington, W.Va., are seen before President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber on January 30.

“This is the challenge of our time”, said Morrisey. Carroll County residents deserve tremendous credit for attending, watching, and reading about candidate forums graciously hosted by the Community Media Center and the Carroll County Times well in advance. Most of that came from banker Mike Gibbons, the only candidate in the Senate primaries who outspent his opponents and lost. As an example, Mark Harris, a North Carolina pastor and Republican challenger friendlier to the president and his policies succeeded over a congressional incumbent seen as less so. Pittenger is the first incumbent to lose his seat this primary season. In order to take control of the House of Representatives, Democrats need a net gain of 24 seats. The difference in cash on hand was much greater – Manchin’s campaign reported $5.3 million in his latest federal filing, compared to $835,000 for Morrisey.

Vice President Mike Pence’s older brother Greg Pence, meanwhile, won the Republican nomination in Indiana’s 6th District.

Trump is expected to ramp up his political travel in the coming months, and his advisers viewed the event as a way to project party unity following a rough primary that pitted Braun, a former state legislator, against two Republican congressmen.

In the GOP Senate race, Renacci emerged victorious with 47 percent of the vote.

Former Ohio State University football star Anthony Gonzalez won the Republican nomination to succeed Renacci in Ohio’s U.S. House District 16 following a three-way contest in which state Rep. Christina Hagan aligned herself closely with Trump’s agenda. In 2014, Republicans had no competitive race in their primary; Democrats had a token primary for governor.

Blankenship had gone scorched-earth against Manchin on TV during the primary, but since his loss has been at least as critical of Morrisey, saying he wouldn’t support his former primary rival. Sherrod Brown in November.

“If it makes sense for West Virginia, makes sense to me, I vote for it, doesn’t matter whether it’s Democrat or Republican”, Manchin said. The state’s “sore loser” law would appear to prevent that.

With the win Tuesday, Manchin will seek a second six-year term in November.

After a humiliating defeat in the GOP primary, Blankenship took to Facebook to compare himself to Trump for being under attack for decades. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party, most recently associated with the presidential candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders, is providing a boost of activism and energy to the Democrats.

“I would like to thank President Trump, your tweet was huge”, said Morrisey.

“There was only one truly conservative West Virginian in the race”, Manchin said. The head of the Senate Republican campaign arm highlighted Blankenship’s criminal history.

“Don Blankenship is just not going to win in November”. Blankenship had served a year in prison after 29 miners died in the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.

“You have rightfully complained about fake news and the corrupt Obama-era Department of Justice (DOJ)”, Blankenship wrote.