Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is running for U.S. Senate as a Republican. Blankenship served one year in federal prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards in the wake of an explosion that killed 29 miners in April, 2010.
The Federal Election Commission and the Senate Office of Public Records has yet to receive Blankenship’s filing. However, West Virginia’s Republican party chairman Conrad Lucas as well as Greg Thomas, a representative for Blankenship, has confirmed the filing. Thomas said filings with the FEC were being made Wednesday.
Candidates for U.S. Senate are required to file on paper by mail or in person through the Senate Office of Public Records, according to that office. Electronic submissions -- by email, fax, etc. -- are not allowed.
Blankenship will face West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Congressman Evan Jenkins in a Republican primary in May 2018. The winner of that race is likely to face incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin, who Blankenship has attacked in television ads in recent months.
Following news of Blankenship's bid for Senate, Manchin's campaign manager, Grant Herring, released a statement, but did not mention the former coal executive by name.
“Joe Manchin is focused on working in the Senate for West Virginia families, not campaign politics. He won’t be distracted by Mitch McConnell’s backroom deals in Washington, D.C.”
West Virginia Democratic Party chair Belinda Biafore took a similar tack, referencing U.S. Senate Majoity Leader Mitch McConnell in her response to Blankenship's run:
“It looks like Mitch McConnell recruited Don Blankenship to use his dirty money to attack Joe Manchin and distract from the nasty Republican primary," Biafore said in a news release. "It’s shocking that even Don Blankenship would accept a backroom deal like this from McConnell.”
Campaign representatives from Evan Jenkins have not yet released a statement on the matter.
According to federal court documents from August, Blankenship is under supervised release from his one-year sentence and resides in Nevada.
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