‘Trumpier Than Trump’ Coal Baron Runs for Senate — As a Democrat

Trump’s not the only vengeful and criminally indicted rich guy in politics. Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

When you are a politically inclined and criminally indicted rich man on a crusade to rehabilitate your tarnished image and smite your enemies, the campaign season never ends. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, but a man who once called himself “Trumpier Than Trump”: Don Blankenship. The West Virginia coal baron ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018 as a Republican and is now running for the same U.S. Senate seat this year as a Democrat. Blankenship ran in 2018 in part because he’s perpetually angry at Senator Joe Manchin for allegedly contributing to his 2015 conviction and incarceration on charges stemming from a lethal 2010 mine explosion.

Despite outspending his two chief primary rivals, Blankenship finished third in 2018, but not before creating a national brouhaha by attacking Mitch McConnell (who was backing an opponent), along with his wife and Trump Treasury secretary Elaine Chao in a series of bizarre and racist ads (he famously called McConnell “Cocaine Mitch” in connection with an elaborate conspiracy theory involving the Senate leader’s Chinese in-laws).

McConnell’s response to Blankenship’s defeat was a social-media classic:

Blankenship didn’t give up on his quest for vindication and vengeance, seeking to get onto the 2018 general-election ballot as the candidate of the far-right U.S. Constitution Party. His hopes were finally dashed by the West Virginia Supreme Court, which denied him ballot access for violating the state’s “sore loser” law, designed to deter candidates exactly like him. His connection with the Constitution Party, however, led to him winning the presidential nomination of that extremist group in 2020; he won 59,924 votes.

And now, to no one’s great surprise, Blankenship is back, and has once again executed a party switch, running for the same Senate seat he lost in 2018, which his nemesis Manchin is voluntarily giving up. But now, Blankenship is running as a Democrat. As The Hill reports, he’s got even more grievances now:

He told local West Virginia-based outlet WV News in an interview that he switched his party affiliation to Democratic eight months ago or more. He argued that the GOP “violated their party” and pushed false stories about him during his initial Senate run. 

“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,” Blankenship said. 

He told the outlet that he is running for Senate again to help West Virginians realize that “our enemy is the government and politicians, and which party you’re in doesn’t really matter.” 

He did not get a very warm welcome from his new party, as West Virginia’s Metronews reported:

“Since getting out of prison Don has been struggling to find a way to be relevant. This sad gimmick is just his latest effort to find a political lifeline. The West Virginia Democratic Party remains committed to supporting candidates who truly represent Democratic values and who will work to improve the quality of life for all West Virginians,” [WV Democratic Party chair Mike] Puskin said.

There are two significantly more conventional Democrats already in the Senate race: Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott and progressive veteran and climate-change activist Zachary Shrewsbury. But Blankenship’s bankroll and universal name ID could make him a threat in what could be a low-turnout Democratic primary. And while his policy views (he is predictably pro-coal in the extreme) are far outside the Democratic Party mainstream, his hatred of the Republican Senate majority leader is authentic: “A Democrat vote for me is a vote against McConnell and his pro-China, anti-America, anti–West Virginia agenda,” he proclaimed in a statement.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be a heavy underdog in deep-red West Virginia during a presidential election year, particularly since both McConnell and Trump have both endorsed the same Republican Senate candidate, popular governor (and himself an ex-Democrat) Jim Justice, another coal baron. But for however long he is a candidate, Blankenship will likely keep things interesting and perhaps scandalous. But the 73-year-old might want to take up another golden-years hobby other than rage-filled politics. The 45th president has something of a corner on that market.