The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
●WV-Sen: Oh boy ... Don Blankenship, the disgraced former CEO of Massey Energy, will reportedly join the Republican primary for Senate next year. WCHS-TV reports that Blankenship filed his paperwork with the FEC on Tuesday, but he has yet to officially announce that he's running. Blankenship is one of the most notorious people in West Virginia after a violation of federal mine safety laws led to the deaths of 29 of his employees in the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion. A court sentenced Blankenship to a year-long prison term for a misdemeanor, but the government had unsuccessfully tried to convict him on far more serious felony charges. While he's now out of prison, Blankenship can't leave the state of Nevada until May without the permission of his probation officer or a federal judge.
Campaign ActionConsequently, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin would likely be ecstatic to have such a boogeyman robber baron to run against if Blankenship somehow won the Republican nomination. Given his infamy, however, Blankenship will likely face a very steep climb to win the primary. A May 2016 poll from Public Policy Polling found that only 10 percent of West Virginians had a favorable opinion of Blankenship, while 55 saw him in a negative light. Even among Republicans, just 13 percent saw him favorably while 43 percent expressed an unfavorable opinion.
Blankenship's wealth could give him an opportunity to spin his side of the story if he decides to engage in some serious self-funding. Indeed, he has already been running an ad comparing the mine incident to Benghazi and trying to blame Manchin and Obama for what happened. Still, national Republicans would almost certainly go all out to prevent Blankenship from winning the nomination and costing them a key opportunity to flip a Senate seat next year. Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey are so far the only other notable Republicans who are running.