In a new off-kilter, 30-second campaign spot, West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship vows if elected to fight for the pro-life agenda, create jobs, “end the drug epidemic” and “ditch cocaine Mitch,” referencing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“One of my goals as U.S. senator will be to ditch cocaine Mitch. When you vote for me, you’re voting for the sake of the kids,” he said with a smile, while providing no context for the new sobriquet. Politico noted that Blankenship might have been referencing a 2014 report from The Nation that reported drugs were once discovered on a shipping vessel owned by the family of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, McConnell’s wife.
In a statement released on his Facebook page Tuesday morning, Blankenship confirmed that he was referencing the Nation story about Chao’s family business.
“Mitch McConnell and his family have extensive ties to China,” he wrote. “His father-in-law who founded and owns a large Chinese shipping company has given Mitch and his wife millions of dollars over the years. The company was implicated recently in smuggling cocaine from Colombia to Europe, hidden aboard a company ship carrying foreign coal was $7 million dollars of cocaine and that is why we’ve deemed him ‘Cocaine Mitch.'”
McConnell has made it clear that he is opposed to Blankenship’s bid for Senate, chiefly because of Blankenship’s criminal past. He served a year in prison for his role in failing to prevent a mine accident that killed 29 workers. McConnell and Republican leadership have said they want a less controversial candidate to challenge Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in November.
Monday’s “cocaine” dig is not the first time Blankenship has lobbed attacks at McConnell. During an interview on a West Virginia radio show last week, Blankenship suggested that McConnell has a conflict of interest on foreign relations issues because Chao’s father is a “wealthy Chinaperson.”
Watch Blankenship’s new ad below:
