Disgraced coal CEO lost races as GOP and third party candidate. He's trying again as a Democrat

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/don-blankenship-manchin-democrats-west-virginia-senate-f51e9edcedd63204b9fb8a8b27e64a5f

Disgraced coal CEO lost races as GOP and third party candidate. He’s trying again as a Democrat
By JOHN RABY and LEAH WILLINGHAM
Updated 11:11 PM CDT, April 23, 2024

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Don Blankenship hasn’t had much success running for office.

He ran for the Senate as a Republican in 2018 and sought the White House in 2020 as a third party candidate. He lost badly both times but is on the ballot again in 2024, this time as a Democrat seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Joe Manchin.

Blankenship has plenty of baggage heading into the May 14 Democratic primary. Beyond his history of political losses, he’s perhaps best known in this coal-producing state as the former chief executive of Massey Energy who spent a year in federal prison for conspiring to violate mine safety laws before an explosion at his West Virginia coal mine killed 29 men in 2010.

With their threadbare Senate majority on the line in this year’s elections, Democrats are already pessimistic about their chances in West Virginia, where Manchin was the rare member of their party to find success in a state that Republican former President Donald Trump carried by nearly 39 percentage points in 2020. But a Blankenship victory in the primary could prove especially problematic for the party, leaving Democrats with an unpopular candidate with a complicated past in business and politics.

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KEYSER, W.Va. — Don Blankenship is running for the United States Senate as a proud West Virginian with Appalachian roots, but his primary residence is a $2.4 million villa with palm trees and an infinity pool near Las Vegas.

Mr. Blankenship, a Republican loyalist of President Trump, is running an America First-style campaign and calls himself an “American competitionist,” but he admires China’s state-controlled economy and has expressed interest in gaining Chinese citizenship.

The former coal mining executive is widely known for spending a year in prison for his role in a mining explosion that claimed 29 lives.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/us/politics/don-blankenship-china-west-virginia.html

[RainCaster]

1. Why would anyone consider him a Democrat?

Can't we get somebody better to run in this part of the country?

[Nittersing]

3. Guess there are a couple of others... who I know nothing about

From the AP article I posted below:

"In the Democratic primary, Elliott and Blankenship will face Marine Corps veteran and grassroots organizer Zach Shrewsbury. Jim Justice, the current governor and a wealthy coal operator, and Rep. Alex Mooney, a pro-Trump Republican, are competing for the GOP nomination."

[Nittersing]

2. Here's a pretty good overview from AP

https://apnews.com/article/don-blankenship-manchin-democrats-west-virginia-senate-f51e9edcedd63204b9fb8a8b27e64a5f

The party and its union allies are working to avoid that scenario.

Earlier this week, Manchin endorsed Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who was an aide to legendary Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd and is unapologetically pro-union. State Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin argues Blankenship isn’t a Democrat and is fond of referring to him as “federal prisoner 12393-088,” a reference to his identification number while incarcerated. And Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers union — which endorsed Manchin in 2012 and 2018 — said seeing Blankenship file for the Senate as a Democrat “may be the most fraudulent and cynical move” he’s ever seen.

“And that’s saying a lot,” Roberts quipped. “If he’s a Democrat, then I’m Batman.”

In an interview, Blankenship argued that it’s the Democratic Party that’s inauthentic and that he’s the candidate most aligned with West Virginians.