MORGANTOWN — Don Blankenship is running for president. He filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, running as a candidate for the Constitution Party.
In a statement regarding the Trump impeachment process on his website, he faults the two-party system, saying the impeachment is evidence the parties are more interested in damaging each other than doing what’s best for the country.
“Political Party leaders keep their members in line and control their votes by controlling funding for their future campaigns,” he said. “The result is that the only opinion that matters is the opinion of the Democrat and Republican Parties’ Leaders.”
Blankenship ran for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2018, coming in third in the GOP primary to winner Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and runner-up Rep. Evan Jenkins. Blankenship tallied 19.97% of the votes compared to Morrisey’s 34.9% and Jenkins’ 29.21%.
He then switched to the Constitution Party and tried to run as its candidate, but was barred by the secretary of state under the “sore loser law,” which prohibits a candidate who fails to win a party nomination from trying again under a different party. He challenged that action but the state Supreme Court ruled against him.
Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy, spent a year in federal prison for a misdemeanor charge of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws following the 2009 Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 miners.
On his website, Blankenship also criticizes President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Trump Jr. advocated for Blankenship’s defeat in 2018 based on the misdemeanor conviction. Blankenship is suing Trump Jr. for defamation for referring to him as a felon; a trial is set for October 2020.
Blankenship posted on his website: “The president, that we as West Virginians support, should not join with fake news advocates to help them influence the outcome of US Senate elections. Particularly following his friends, and his son having purposefully slandered that candidate in order to subvert a federal election. The President cannot expect to reduce fake news while supporting spreaders of fake news.”
The West Virginia Constitution Party could not be reached for comment.
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
