# The candidacy of Don Blankenship (US Senate - WV) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 7, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764 "2018-05-07T15:52:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/41 "2018-05-09T03:17:50Z")
My question is, how did Joe Manchin win it in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/42 "2018-05-09T03:34:12Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > My question is, how did Joe Manchin win it in the first place? Shows how fast partisan alignment has changed. WV was a coal state, meaning a union state, meaning a Democratic state. He was a two-term governor (winning every county the second time), won a special-ish election to replace Robert Byrd to get into the Senate. He won a full-term with 60% of the vote in 2012 - it seems inconceivable that with no scandals he is even in trouble, but tht is the USA in 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/43 "2018-05-09T04:10:23Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > ABC News interviewed a West Virginian who lost three cousins in the mine explosion who said he’s voting for Blankenship because he’s the crook he knows. Do people hear themselves when they say something that stupid? The point of somebody being the crook you know is that you don’t hire them. “Hey, Bob, how’s the store going?” “Pretty good. We got enough business that I hired a new guy to work nights. I’m a little worried though. I hired a guy who stole from his last job.” “Why’d you hire him then?” “Well, I know he’s a crook so it seemed to make sense somehow.” ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/44 "2018-05-09T04:25:45Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Shows how fast partisan alignment has changed. WV was a coal state, meaning a union state, meaning a Democratic state. He was a two-term governor (winning every county the second time), won a special-ish election to replace Robert Byrd to get into the Senate. He won a full-term with 60% of the vote in 2012 - it seems inconceivable that with no scandals he is even in trouble, but tht is the USA in 2018. Is he in trouble? His approval ratings may have “plummeted” but the last ones I can see still has him solidly over 50. There’s obviously signs that there is a big shift towards R in the state but is there direct evidence of how much trouble he’s in? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/45 "2018-05-09T07:30:05Z")
Well, if the primaries are any indication, Dems outnumber Pubbies roughly 7 to 6, so that’s a good sign. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/46 "2018-05-09T08:13:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Well, if the primaries are any indication, Dems outnumber Pubbies roughly 7 to 6, so that’s a good sign. Eh. In 2014, Democratic primary voters outnumbered Republicans by an even bigger margin. (And being a “Democrat” in a WV primary doesn’t mean much. In 2012, Barack Obama only got 59% in the presidential primary.) ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/47 "2018-05-09T09:17:47Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > ABC News interviewed a West Virginian who lost three cousins in the mine explosion who said he’s voting for Blankenship because he’s the crook he knows. Did the person holding the interview pause at all to point out how absolutely fucking retarded that statement was? Because I feel anything less kinda falls under “dereliction of duty”. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/48 "2018-05-09T10:45:21Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Did the person holding the interview pause at all to point out how absolutely fucking retarded that statement was? Because I feel anything less kinda falls under “dereliction of duty”. I guess the theory is that what is known about Blankenship was awful, but who knows what isn’t known about the other two guys (kind of Rumsfeldian). It could be even worse! Of course, that ignores the things not known about Blankenship. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/49 "2018-05-09T12:02:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Can somebody explain the [electoral map in West Virginia](https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/west-virginia/?utm_term=.3fe77dc9dc65)? > > I’ve seen states split between Democrats and Republicans, but I’ve never seen such a sharp line between candidates of one party. What is WV like to produce this? I don’t know but I’d like to find out too. Part of me (knowing nothing about WV) assumed maybe Blankenship won the counties that were heavy coal producers. But there doesn’t seem to be a connection between coal heavy counties and whether Blankenship won. No idea about the other 2 candidates. [http://www.wvminesafety.org/county2010.htm](http://www.wvminesafety.org/county2010.htm) > **[West Virginia: coal production in by county 2022 | Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/380650/coal-production-in-west-virginia-by-county/)** > > Marshall county produced more than 16 million short tons of coal in 2022, making this the largest coal producing county in West Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/50 "2018-05-09T12:25:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Can somebody explain the [electoral map in West Virginia](https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/west-virginia/?utm_term=.3fe77dc9dc65)? > > I’ve seen states split between Democrats and Republicans, but I’ve never seen such a sharp line between candidates of one party. What is WV like to produce this? Presumably Jenkins is most well known in the southern part of the state, since that’s where his [Congressional district](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:West_Virginia_US_Congressional_District_3_(since_2013).tif) is. [Ohio’s](https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/ohio/?utm_term=.6996e0b0face) GOP senate race split mostly along [TV market boundaries](http://dishuser.org/TVMarkets/Maps/ohio.gif). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/51 "2018-05-09T13:19:04Z")
Wait, we were rooting against him? I was looking forward to Joe Manchin having a safe seat. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/52 "2018-05-09T13:51:48Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Shows how fast partisan alignment has changed. WV was a coal state, meaning a union state, meaning a Democratic state. He was a two-term governor (winning every county the second time), won a special-ish election to replace Robert Byrd to get into the Senate. He won a full-term with 60% of the vote in 2012 - it seems inconceivable that with no scandals he is even in trouble, but tht is the USA in 2018. The main problem a guy like Manchin (moderate Democrat in a red state) has is his identification with the national Democratic Party. And with the rise in partisanship in recent years, this has become a much bigger albatross than it once was. Partly because the Democratic label is even more toxic than ever (to RW voters) and partly because Manchin himself is under more pressure (from his own party) to take a hard line stance on issues that he might have otherwise been more flexible about. The same is true in reverse for moderate Republicans running in blue states. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/53 "2018-05-09T13:54:12Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Presumably Jenkins is most well known in the southern part of the state, since that’s where his [Congressional district](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:West_Virginia_US_Congressional_District_3_(since_2013).tif) is. > > [Ohio’s](https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/ohio/?utm_term=.6996e0b0face) GOP senate race split mostly along [TV market boundaries](http://dishuser.org/TVMarkets/Maps/ohio.gif). In Indiana for the GOP senate you had 3 candidates. Rokita, Messer and Braun. Rokita and Messer are both representatives, and both won lots of counties in their districts but very few counties elsewhere. Braun won pretty much every other county that wasn’t in the 4th or 6th district. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/54 "2018-05-09T18:44:10Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Eh. In 2014, Democratic primary voters outnumbered Republicans by an even bigger margin. (And being a “Democrat” in a WV primary doesn’t mean much. In 2012, Barack Obama only got 59% in the presidential primary.) Manchin calls himself a Democrat, he’d be a Republican in any other state. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/55 "2018-05-10T05:56:00Z")
I just finished reading “Under the Dome” by Stephen King, and realized this guy is basically a real life Jim Rennie, sans the meth lab. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/56 "2018-05-10T14:25:46Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Can somebody explain the [electoral map in West Virginia](https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/west-virginia/?utm_term=.3fe77dc9dc65)? > > I’ve seen states split between Democrats and Republicans, but I’ve never seen such a sharp line between candidates of one party. What is WV like to produce this? It was a unique election. Morrissey has better conservative bonafides, but he lives in Harper’s Ferry (which some consider the DC metro area) and is originally from NJ. Jenkins is a West Virginia boy who grew up in the southern part of the state, but he used to be a Democrat who previously endorsed Hilary Clinton. With Blankenship taking all of the far, far right votes, the rest of the state chose between a carpet bagger and a former Democrat. It looks like the people in the southern part of the state valued Jenkins and his roots (near them) better while the people in the northern part of the state would rather vote for the stronger conservative. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/57 "2018-05-10T14:33:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > My question is, how did Joe Manchin win it in the first place? Joe played the trick that kept the Dems in power in West Virginia for about twenty-five years longer than in other southern states: keep the federal money flowing, be pro-gun and pro-life. Joe is also an excellent politician who at least acts like (and maybe he really does) care about people. > [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Well, if the primaries are any indication, Dems outnumber Pubbies roughly 7 to 6, so that’s a good sign. Latest registration numbers are Dem 43%, Rep 32%, Ind/Other 25%. The Ind number is likely skewed because while registered Dems and Reps must vote in their own respective primaries, Independents may choose which primary to cast a ballot. Also a number of former Democrats are philosophically Republicans but remember their grandfather who worked in the coal mines talking about how evil Republicans were. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/58 "2018-05-10T14:37:00Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Manchin calls himself a Democrat, he’d be a Republican in any other state. Manchin voted for the ACA and did not vote to overturn it. He also didn’t vote for the GOP tax cut for the rich. He is a conservative democrat, but he is still a democrat. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/59 "2018-05-21T17:01:16Z")
He’s back! [Blankenship to wage third party bid after losing primary](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/don-blankenship-third-party-constitution-party-600779) ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764/60 "2018-05-21T17:25:58Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > He’s back! > > [Blankenship to wage third party bid after losing primary](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/don-blankenship-third-party-constitution-party-600779) Will he have any trouble getting on the ballot in WV? Anyone familiar with WV law in this area? Even so, a write-in campaign might be enough help Manchin seat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-candidacy-of-don-blankenship-us-senate-wv/813764.md?page=4)