News
Blankenship Fights “Sore Loser” Decision
By: Associated Press
Posted on:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Former coal executive Don Blankenship has filed a court challenge to a denial of his third-party candidacy application to run in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race.
Blankenship filed the challenge with the state Supreme Court on Thursday.
Secretary of State Mac Warner last month blocked Blankenship’s bid to run as the Constitution Party’s nominee, based on the state’s “sore loser” law. The law prohibits major party primary candidates who lose from switching to a minor party. Blankenship finished third in the Republican primary.
Blankenship says in a statement the law “is flawed in multiple ways.”
Blankenship is a former CEO of Massey Energy, which owned a mine where a 2010 explosion killed 29 miners. He spent a year in federal prison for violating safety regulations.