- Massey Energy chief executive officer Don Blankenship is running for the Senate
- He filed papers to run as a Republican
- Will challenge Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin
- Served one-year prison sentence for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards
A mining company CEO who did time in prison for conspiring to violate mine safety in connection with a massive mine explosion is running against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in West Virginia.
Don Blankenship did a year-long stint in a California prison after getting convicted of willfully breaking safety standards.
He got convicted after the Upper Big Branch disaster that resulted in the deaths of 29 miners in 2010.
Manchin won election in 2012 with 60 per cent of the vote, but is considered vulnerable because of the voting patterns in the state he represents. He voted through most of President Trump’s nominees, and votes with the president about two-thirds of the time.
A spokesman says ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who went to prison after a mine explosion, will run for the U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.
A spokesman confirmed the ex-Massey Energy CEO will run against Manchin.
Blankenship is a longtime critic of Manchin, wchstv reported. Manchin said in a statement ‘He won’t be distracted by [Senate GOP leader] Mitch McConnell’s backroom deals in Washington, D.C.’
Blankenship spokesman Greg Thomas said the formal filing was expected Wednesday. The Senate clerk’s office says it hasn’t received it yet.
The 67-year-old Blankenship was released from a federal prison in California in May after serving a one-year term related to a deadly mine explosion. He’s serving one year of supervised release.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) looks on during a news conference to discuss the national opioid crisis, on Capitol Hill June 27, 2017 in Washington
A protestor holds a sign above Don Blankenship, chairman and chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co., right, as he sits next to Shane Harvey, vice president and general counsel of Massey Energy, before a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on proposals to invest in mine safety programs, focusing on efforts to prevent mine disasters, in Washington
The Upper Big Branch Mine explosion killed 29 workers
Blankenship was sentenced last year for a misdemeanor conviction of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine in southern West Virginia, where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected Blankenship’s bid to appeal.
Two other Repubilans, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey are also seeking to challenge Manchin.