.@politicoalex talks with @HoppyKercheval about his piece on Don Blankenship’s Senate campaign. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/L4WQeXianC
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) March 20, 2018
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — While West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., have spent much of their times as Senate candidates attacking each other, their respective campaigns have expressed concerns about another candidate: former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.
According to a POLITICO article published Tuesday, both campaigns have asked the National Republican Senatorial Committee what can be done to stop Blankenship’s campaign. The committee has since asked for a survey regarding the strength of the bid.
Blankenship, who announced his candidacy in November, has focused his attention on television advertisements, spending $1.1 million dollars on commercials going after opponents and resetting his image damaged by the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 people.
Compare this to Jenkins and Morrisey, who have spent $38,000 and nothing respectively on buying media with more than a month left until the May 8 primary election.
The winner of this race will likely face off against U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in the November general election.
POLITICO reporter Alex Isenstadt said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” the National Republican Senatorial Committee has met with the Jenkins and Morrisey campaigns about the threat of Blankenship’s campaign.
“In both meetings, the Jenkins and Morrisey campaigns said to the national party, ‘Look, Blankenship is for real. He’s gaining real traction in this race,'” he said.
Isenstadt, who wrote an article detailing the internal concerns about Blankenship being the GOP nominee, said national Republicans do not want to go after Blankenship, fearing a pushback similar to what happened in last year’s Alabama Senate race with Judge Roy Moore.
“A lot of people in the national party want it to fall it upon Jenkins and Morrisey to do the dirty work,” he said. “There’s kind of this game of chicken going on between Jenkins and Morrisey about who’s going to do it first.”
The two campaigns are not the only ones who see the possibility of a Sen. Blankenship; Isenstadt reported Blankenship and his political strategist Greg Thomas met with White House officials earlier this year about the candidacy. Isenstadt added Blankenship spoke about he has funded Republican campaigns in the past and his issues with Manchin.
“I can tell you the White House staffers came away from this meeting really convinced that Don Blankenship is pretty much for real in this race,” Isenstadt said on “Talkline.”
Blankenship released a press release stating he does not care about who Republican leaders — namedropping Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — supports.
“West Virginians have a right to choose their own senator and interference in that right is yet another reason why we need term limits. Lifers in D.C. think they have a right to meddle in a vital part of what makes America great — the right to vote for the person an individual chooses,” he said.
McConnell told the New York Times in February he did not want to see Blankenship become the party’s nominee. According to Blankenship, McConnell has not been supportive of the coal industry.