GOP frets over ex-con seeking primary win in West Virginia
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Republican Don Blankenship doesn’t care if his party and his president don’t think he can beat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin this fall.
The former coal mining executive — an ex-convict released from prison less than a year ago — is willing to risk his personal fortune and the GOP’s golden opportunity in West Virginia for the chance to prove them all wrong.
“I’ll get elected on my own merits,” Blankenship says.
There aren’t a lot of things that can sink Republicans’ hopes in the ruby red state that Donald Trump won by 42 percentage points in 2016, but Blankenship could well be one.