CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Various reports indicate President Donald Trump will return to West Virginia before the Nov. 6 General Election to stump for state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in his run for U.S. Senate.
According to a Reuters report, Trump will go on an 8-state blitz beginning next Wednesday including campaign stops in West Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee.
Morrisey, who has trailed U.S. Senator Joe Manchin in most of the major polls, predicted during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline” earlier this week that Trump would return.
Trump visited Wheeling Sept. 29.
“A vote for Patrick Morrisey is a vote for me,” Trump said at the rally.
On Aug. 21 Trump was at the Charleston Civic Center.
“We need to elect five, six or even seven more senators, and I think we can do it. And we have to start with Patrick Morrisey,” Trump said to a cheering audience. “He’s going to be fantastic.”
Manchin was in Martinsburg Friday at an event sponsored by the Berkeley County Democratic Executive Committee. He continued to focus on one of his main campaign themes.
“If you want to protect your healthcare, if you want to protect Social security and Medicare, that’s what this is about,” he said. “You can decide. Someone who wants to fight for what you need in order to live a quality of life or basically just let you fend for yourself and we’re just not going backwards.”
Manchin and Morrisey are scheduled to debate Thursday night in Morgantown at West Virginia Radio Corporation studios in an event sponsored by the West Virginia Broadcasters Association. It will be moderated by MetroNews “Talkline” Host Hoppy Kercheval.
No official word on where Trump may appear next. Some have speculated it may be in Beckley on somewhere else south of U.S. Route 60 where Trump would also stump for Del. Carol Miller, R-Cabell, who is running for Third District Congress against state Sen. Richard Ojeda, D-Logan.
An Oct. 16 Monmouth University poll indicated a close race in the 3rd with Miller leading Ojeda 48 percent to 45 percent.
Monmouth Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray said at the time, given Trump’s popularity in the southern coalfields, Miller’s lead should be larger.
“The fact that this race is even close in a district that Donald Trump won by 50 points and continues to be very popular says a lot about the individual level of appeal of Ojeda,” Murray said.
According to the poll, Trump receives a nearly 2-to-1 positive rating from WV-03 voters – 63 percent approve and 35 percent disapprove.