Don Blankenship, the former coal executive who spent a year in jail for a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 people, delivered yet another bizarre statement on Wednesday afternoon following his loss in West Virginia’s GOP Senate primary the night before.
The candidate, who infamously dubbed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “Cocaine Mitch” and spoke about his “China family” in openly racist terms, delivered one final swing against the Kentucky Republican leader.
“Mitch McConnell’s cocaine tweet is just more proof that he is not an America person,” Blankenship said, referring to a tweet posted by McConnell’s team Tuesday night mocking Blankenship’s failed bid with an image of the Senate majority leader photoshopped into a still from the drug-cartel show Narcos.
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“Thousands die from cocaine use year after year, and he thinks it’s funny that his family’s shipping business hauls cocaine on the high seas. It is not funny. It is sickening,” Blankenship concluded.
The failed candidate also said that West Virginia will face bad options in the upcoming general election between two candidates controlled by the Washington, D.C., establishment.
“West Virginia voters must now choose between two candidates that will not be able to take America and West Virginia positions,” Blankenship said. “One will be under the thumb of [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and the other under the thumb of McConnell.”
Blankenship, who came in third place on Tuesday night, also apologized for losing.
“My sincere apologies to those that understand the importance of putting America First,” he said. “I failed them, yet I do not know what more I could have done. West Virginia people deserve better.”
