A new Republican super PAC with ties to party organizations in Washington has dumped nearly $750,000 into the West Virginia Senate race in a bid to block GOP primary candidate Don Blankenship from the nomination.
Blankenship went to prison after being convicted in federal court of conspiring to violate mine safety standards in an explosion that left 29 West Virginia coal miners dead. Mining is the economic driver of the state’s economy, and Republicans fear Blankenship won’t stand a chance in November against otherwise vulnerable Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V.
But Republican officials, despite President Trump’s popularity in West Virginia, fear party intervention in the primary could spark a grassroots backlash that inadvertently cements Blankenship’s frontrunner status. So opposition to the wealthy energy executive is being run through the generic-sounding Mountain Families PAC ahead of the May 8 Senate primary.
“If Blankenship wins the nomination, the state is off the map,” a Republican insider monitoring the race warned, requesting anonymity to speak candidly.
Top Republicans and party organizations, from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC-aligned McConnell, would be fine with either Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.V., or state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, as their standard bearer against Manchin.
But neither official GOP groups, nor top party officials, are commenting on the West Virginia Senate primary or Mountain Families PAC.
Republicans have been chastened by last year’s special Senate election in Alabama. In that contest, Republican primary voters ignored Trump’s endorsement of Luther Strange and millions in advertising from Senate Leadership Fund attacking Roy Moore and nominated the former judge anyway. He proceeded to lose to now-Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala.
To avoid a repeat in West Virginia, Republicans appear to have stolen a page from the playbook the Democrats used in Alabama. Rather than make the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee the point of the spear in the ruby red state, most of the pro-Jones spending ran through Highway 31, a super PAC.
Similarly, in West Virginia, the NRSC and SLF are standing down, leaving opposition to Blankenship to Mountain Families PAC.
The organization’s treasurer, Benjamin Ottenhoff, whose firm is based in Northern Virginia, is a vendor for several GOP groups and incumbent lawmakers, among them the NRSC, the National Republican Congressional Committee and Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., according to filings with the Federal Elections Commission.
Also according to the FEC, Mountain Families PAC began advertising against Blankenship last week, with $47,700 spent for Internet spots and $681,000 detailed as “media placement,” presumably for television ads.
“Who will clean up Washington? Not convicted criminal Don Blankenship,” the voiceover says, in one of the super PAC’s spots.
