He may have been "Trumpier than Trump," but when it comes to West Virginia politics, Don Blakenship is now a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, according to a filing on the West Virginia secretary of state's website.
The clunky moniker comes from the 2018 West Virginia Senate race, in which the former Massey Energy CEO was running in the GOP primary. Then-President Donald Trump had been urging West Virginians to support Blankenship's opponents, to which he countered, "... [S]ome have said I am Trumpier than Trump, and this morning proves it."
He continued, "The president is a very busy man and he doesn't know me, and he doesn't know how flawed my two main opponents are in this primary."
In a phone interview with WV News, Blankenship said the party switch happened eight months ago.
"When I ran in 2018, they sort of violated their party," he said, referring to Republican election tactics. "They put out stories that were false. But the most important thing to me is this drug epidemic in West Virginia is not being addressed by the Republican Party, and neither are the problems in the country."
He called the government an "American's worst enemy" and said, "[A]nd they are, in fact, destroying America while we're being led to believe that there's a fight between the left and right going on, when in fact it's the government destroying us."
Blakenship served a year in prison for conspiring to violate safety standards at West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine prior to an explosion in 2010 that resulted in the deaths of 29 men.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has been in office since 2010, is retiring at the end of this year. Republicans see his departure as an opening to a winnable seat with Trump taking the state with almost 70% of the votes cast in 2020. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a former Democrat who switched parties in 2017, is the odd-on favorite to take the GOP nomination in 2024.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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