Trump Invokes Roy Moore To Urge West Virginia Voters Away From Blankenship

on March 1, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia.
MORGANTOWN, WV - MARCH 01: Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Don Blankenship speaks at a town hall meeting at West Virginia University on March 1, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Blankenship is the former chie... MORGANTOWN, WV - MARCH 01: Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Don Blankenship speaks at a town hall meeting at West Virginia University on March 1, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Blankenship is the former chief executive of the Massey Energy Company where an explosion in the Upper Big Branch coal mine killed 29 men in 2010. Blankenship, a controversial candidate in central Appalachia coal country, served a one-year sentence for conspiracy to violate mine safety laws and has continued to blame the government for the accident despite investigators findings. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Invoking the specter of Roy Moore’s Senate loss in Alabama, President Donald Trump tweeted Monday urging Republicans to choose any candidate in Tuesday’s West Virginia Republican Senate primary other than coal baron and ex-convict Don Blankenship.

Blankenship recently spent a year in prison for his failure to prevent a fatal mine explosion and has spent the last few weeks of the campaign attacking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his family, calling them “China people.”

Some say that Blankenship has gained some momentum in his race against two establishment candidates in recent weeks, despite his many flaws.

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