Don Blankenship recently announced that he would like to run as a third party candidate in the West Virginia race for the U.S. Senate.
West Virginia University Political Science Professor Simon Haeder said that a situation like this is not unprecedented, but is less likely for someone who is not an incumbent senator.
He said that Blankenship has invested millions of dollars in establishing the republican party in West Virginia and it is an ironic development that republicans will now try to keep him off the ballot.
“It will be quite interesting if he can surmount the legal challenges that he certainly faces. He may very well be the one that hands the election to Joe Manchin, because you would imagine that he will not be taking many votes from joe Manchin. The person he will be taking votes from is Morrissey,” Simon Haeder WVU Political Science Professor.
Haeder said that Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has filed a challenge against Blankenship being on the ballot through the ‘Sore Loser Laws.’
