By Brad McElhinny
MORGANTOWN — The three Republicans in West Virginia’s race for U.S. Senate went after each other in a fiery, nationally televised debate Tuesday.
Over long stretches of the debate, Congressman Evan Jenkins and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey traded barbs and counter-claims.
“You stood next to me three years ago and said I was right for West Virginia. What’s different now?” Jenkins said at one point, referring to his successful 2016 congressional bid.
Morrisey responded, “I didn’t know you would lie so much.”
And, when he got a chance to speak, ex-coal mine executive Don Blankenship — released from jail last year — called them both opportunists who aren’t up to the job.
West Virginia and the three candidates were in the national spotlight one week before the primary election.
Each of the candidates is aiming to take on presumed Democratic candidate Joe Manchin, an incumbent senator and a longtime West Virginia political powerhouse.
The hour-long debate was hosted by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum from the Metropolitan Theater.
Each of the candidates tried to prove he would be the most conservative and the most closely allied with President Donald Trump, who carried West Virginia with 68 percent of the vote in the presidential election.
But each of the candidates also had to address perceived weaknesses.
For Blankenship, it was his misdemeanor conviction on a conspiracy charge that stemmed from the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers. “Do you accept any responsibility for the deaths of those 29 miners?”
Blankenship, who spent a couple of years touting an alternate theory of how the explosion happened — despite studies that concluded otherwise — said he accepts responsibility for trying to prevent it from happening again.
For Jenkins, the question was his switch from his longtime Democratic registration to the Republican Party prior to his run for Congress. “How do you convince Wes Virginia voters that you can drain the swamp if they think you’re a part of it?”
“I’ve been fighting the establishment. I’ve been fighting the swamp,” Jenkins said.
The moderators asked how West Virginians could be sure he wouldn’t switch again if the political tides change.
“I simply couldn’t be a part of a Democratic Party that was so wrong for West Virginia,” Jenkins responded.
For Morrisey, it was his residency and congressional bid in New Jersey prior to moving to West Virginia — as well as his career in Washington, D.C., as a lobbyist and Capitol Hill staffer.
“I love West Virginia with all the fiber of my being,” Morrisey said.
Blankenship also had to defend his residence, which he established in Las Vegas during his 2016 trial. “I pay probably more taxes than anyone on this stage to West Virginia,” he said.
The moderators asked a followup. “If Joe Manchin comes at you for living in Nevada, what do you say?”
Blankenship: “That he’s been living in D.C. for too long.”
Morrisey was asked about how his office’s lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies square with his own history as a lobbyist and his wife’s work for a lobbying company representing Cardinal Health, one of the big pharmaceutical companies.
Morrisey said the Attorney General’s office went after the pharmaceutical industry aggressively.
Jenkins was asked to defend his record as the congressman representing the region of the state hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. “What makes you think you deserve a promotion when the district you represent is Ground Zero for the opioid crisis?” the moderators asked.
Jenkins cited his work with Lily’s Place in Huntington and then turned fire on Morrisey.
“There Evan goes yet again,” Morrisey said, claiming Jenkins was misrepresenting his rec-ord. “Did your mom ever wash your mouth out with soap for those lies?”
Each of the candidates was asked if he would support Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to continue as Senate majority leader. Blankenship ducked down behind his podium.
Blankenship was targeted with advertisements by national Republicans who believe he carries too much baggage to win a campaign against Man-chin. So Blankenship fired back this week with an ad with a tenuous connection to McConnell and a drug raid on a boat owned by the family of McConnell’s wife.
“If you are elected and Mitch McConnell is the majority leader, how will you get anything done?” Baier asked Blankenship.
“First of all, he won’t be the majority leader. Next, I’d like to clarify. Both of these guys are lying,” Blankenship responded, saying Jenkins and Morrisey couldn’t claim to drain the swamp while also not knowing if they would back McConnell as majority leader.
The Democratic Party in West Virginia responded with a series of statements after the debate ended. The Democrats focused on Morrisey and Blankenship.
“Tonight’s debate exposed Evan Jenkins and Patrick Morrisey for who they are: Former special interest lobbyists that cut deals to help themselves, and now they want to swim in the D.C. swamp,” Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore, stated.
The Democratic Party did agree with Blankenship on one matter: “West Virginians watching this understand why West Virginians must ditch Mitch in 2018.”
