Don Blankenship, a coal baron and GOP candidate for the West Virginia Senate nomination, said Tuesday that it isn’t racist to refer to the father-in-law of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as a “wealthy Chinaperson.”
Appearing at a Fox News debate in Morgantown, W.Va., where he was not allowed to wear a hat featuring “Ditch Mitch” on it, Blankenship also repeated his claim that McConnell is conflicted in foreign affairs because of his family ties. He also added that the family of his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, is “powerful in China.”
“This idea that calling somebody a Chinaperson — I mean, I’m an American person,” said Blankenship. “I don’t see this insinuation by the press that there’s something racist about saying ‘a Chinaperson.’ Some people are Korean-persons, and some of them are African-persons. It’s not any slander.”
The comments came after one of the moderators, Bret Baier of Fox News, asked Blankenship, Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey if any of them would support McConnell to continue as leader of the Senate GOP conference. Jenkins and Morrisey both said they would made a decision down the road. Blankenship, meanwhile, ducked under his podium.
.@BretBaier asks the candidates if they would support Mitch McConnell for Republican leader in the U.S. Senate. pic.twitter.com/AVfFvx1gWc
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 1, 2018
“I’m not going to D.C. to get along, so that won’t be a failure because I don’t intend to get along,” Blankenship said when he asked how he expects to get along with Chao on transportation-related issues in the state. “I intend to make sure that we make a difference.”
“[McConnell] has conflicts of interest with China. His family is very powerful in China and very powerful in the United States,” he added.
On Monday, Blankenship started referring to McConnell as “Cocaine Mitch,” referring to an allegation that drugs were found on a ship four years ago owned by the majority leader’s father-in-law.
Blankenship, a longtime energy executive, spent a year in prison after he was convicted of conspiracy to violate mine safety standards after the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers. He currently sits third in the polls behind Jenkins and Morrisey.
The primary contest is slated for next Tuesday.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the location of the debate. It took place in Morgantown, W.Va., not Charleston.
