they went to blankenship. he ducked behind the podium and he said i want to make sure no one gets any doubt about where i am on this. place went crazy. there's something about the posture that's resonating? >> jennifer, i hear you can hear us now. i want to get your take on that. when you look at voters being drawn toward candidates like blankenship or candidates like moore or candidates trying to prove they're the trumpiest version of the candidate in the field, is that there's a distaste for mitch mcconnell and the establishment, or is there something else there? is it a dislike for washington? >> it's more a dislike from washington. i think that most primary voters couldn't pick mitch mcconnell out of a lineup. but blankenship and roy moore, for example, have sort of made him the symbol of all that's wrong with congress whether they know him or not. blankenship has gone further than anybody in trying to do that. >> is it a dislike for washington entirely? because when you look at a candidate like blankenshi

here it was, blankenship running in third.his is after republicans in washington nationally they had spent a fortune trying to sink him. they looked that the saying mission accomplished, we don't want blankenship as our nominee, we're not going to get him. now, this is the last 48 hours. the thing here is these are headlines about internal poll, not public polls. we haven't seen them. you have got republicans from these rival campaigns in west virginia saying hey, our numbers show that in the last few days, blankenship has surged. he's near the top, he's at the top, he's in the lead in this republican primary. so what you have are republicans in washington who do not want blankenship to be the nominee, they're in a panic right now. they're afraid he's surging. they may not be able to stop him. you have the rival campaign saying yes, that's what our numbers are showing. we haven't seen those numbers but there are all sorts of indications of movement toward him. >> if blankenship does win tonight, two question, what does it tell

don blankenship just shy of 21%. 33%. congressman evan jenkins at 30. we're not sure of the leader yet. we're not ready to call the winner yet. but based on our math, based on the analysis that don blankenship is going to run third. meaning a nightmare scenario for the republican establishment is over. president trump certain to take some credit for this tomorrow. remember, he tweeted on election eve, republicans don't vote for don blankenship. if he wins the nomination we will lose this seat in november. it is a held by joe manchin. it is considered one of the most promising target for republicans in an otherwise difficult year. we played that ad. he was viewed as a race baiter, he attacked the republican establishment. ewas a disaster the deaths at the massey coal mine that all the republicans assumed would be used against him in the fall. he also told cnn tonight if he runs third, he will not follow through on a threat to perhaps run as a write-in candidate. it appears that don blankenship's political career, at l

barron don blankenship came up short. >> west virginian republicans rejected don blankenship. >> don blankenship finished a distant third in the west virginia senate race. >> trevor: that's right, west virginia, meet your new republican senate nominee-- not don blankenship! yay! ( cheers and applause ) now, i'm not going to lie-- i thought it was a little weird for the tv news to be focusing on a candidate who came in third in a primary. but once you meet don blankenship, you understand that this guy might not be newsworthy, but he was definitely great tv. >> politicians are running a lot of crazy ads. i blew up the coal mine, and they put me in prison. now they're running ads saying the coal mine blew up, and i went to prison. there's no surprise there. ( laughter ) ( applause ) >> uh, actually, i feel like that was a surprise. ( laughter ) politicians don't usually run ads saying they went to prison after they blew up coal mines. which-- side note-- really happened. 29 people died, and blankenship served a year in prison for it. and i'm willing to bet with that bourbon-and-xanax de

so blankenship is calling himself trumpier than trump.what the results are tomorrow. but you see these candidates in primaries at this point running as closely as they can to donald trump being unashamed about it. doing what they can to endear themselves to him because they want to appeal to those voters. the question is whether or not that completely backfires in november. right now in these states, they're seeing it as an effective strategy. that's where the republican party is right now. >> are democrats taking as much advantage of that situation as they could? >> to a certain degree. drts have their own issues. right? so you have folks from the progressive side of the party, folks who identify with bernie sanders. folks who identify with elizabeth warren. our evolution, bernie sanders, they're running candidates all over the country. there is in some ways a kind of gravitational force trying to pull the democratic party to the left. and that's happening here. so it's very -- it's a challenge. they're trying to exploit what trump has g

if blankenship flames out, remember this for years to come, i would say. if blankenship ends up in contention to win, then maybe those internal polls -- we're hearing multiple internal polls. the reason i had my antenna up the last few days, you watch two things happen. he dominated the coverage. since a week ago, this race has been all about don blankenship and the dynamic he wants, the press nationally has been in -- a lot of critical coverage. he wants that. he wants the national press shining a bright light on him, drawing a negative attention to him in some cases. sew wants that. and the other thing there was a debate on the fox news channel and nationally televised and a moment in the debate that stuck out at me and i asked the candidates, raise your hand if you will vote for mitch mcconnell to be the republican leader and morici and jenkins didn't know what to do and gave nonanswers and stammered through and blankenship ducked and said i didn't want anybody to be confused how little enthusiasm. the place went crazy. and i think there is something in

do you think don blankenship's qualified to be a u.s. senator? >> no. don blankenship is not qualified to be a u.s. senator. he doesn't deserve to be a u.s. senator. anyone that would vote for don blankenship may as well stick a knife in their back and twist it. >> reporter: blankenship has also tried to deflect criticism tcto top republicans like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, running racially charged ads that appear to reference the family of mcconnell's wife, transportation secretary elaine chao. >> swamp captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. >> reporter: president trump won west virginia by more than 40 etints in 2016, so republicans think they've got a pretty good shot here, but they're worried that blankenship and his prison record could spoil their chances to defeat democrat joe manchin this november. jeff? >> glor: ed o'keefe reporting from west virginia. thanks. the national do not call list now includes nearly 230 million numbers, but a lot of us are still getting those sales calls inring dinner. compl

do you think don blankenship's qualified to be a u.s. senator?n blankenship is not qualified to be a u.s. senator. he doesn't deserve to be a u.s. senator. anyone that would vote for don blankenship may as well stick a knife in their back and twist it. >> reporter: blankenship has also tried to deflect criticism on to top republicans like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, running racially charged ads that appear to reference the family of mcconnell's wife, transportation secretary elaine chao. >> mitch mcconnell has created millions of job for china people -- >> reporter: president trump won west virginia by more than 40 points in 2016, so republicans think they've got a decent shot of winning here. they're worried that blankenship and his federal prison time will spoil their chances of defeating democrat joe mnuchin this november. ed o'keefe, cbs news, charles, west virginia. >>> coming up on "cbs this morning," in his first live tv interview since his release from prison, rapper meek mill joins us with his attorney to talk about pushing f

blankenship as a qualified candidate. making a number of different gaffes. he doesn't have that experience on the political stage and they believe that joe manchin who is won statewide in west virginia would clean the floor with blankenship. we have not seen president trump get involved in this race before the republican voters go to the polls on tuesday. maybe we will see president trump make some kind of statement on who he wants to win that race but so far he's been quiet and part of it is because mr. blankenship has followed a very trumpian path. he's toed the line and said things that are controversial. he's talked about the swamp and career politicians need to move out of a way for a businessman to take over and he said things that have gotten headlines even though they're controversial. he said he does not want to be politically correct and he has not backed down or apologized even though many people see his statements about china people as racist. he is not apologized or backed down at all and he's followed a trum

a follow about don blankenship.y does the president believe he can't win an election in the state of west virginia? >> let me answer the question first. in regard to acting director haspel, her commitment to the agency is one of the reasons she is the right person to lead it. she wants to do everything she can to make sure the integrity of the c.i.a. remains in intact, isn't unnecessarily attacked. and if she felt that her nomination would have been a problem for that and for the agency, then she wanted to do everything she could to protect the agency. at the same time she wants to do everything to protect the safety and the security of americans, which is why she is 100% committed to going through this confirmation process. and being confirmed as the next leader of the c.i.a. >> kevin: the followup on blankenship and west virginia, why does the president believe he can't win an election in the state of west virginia? why not? >> sarah: as you know, i have a few more limitations than the president. and due to the ha

leon, how is blankenship in the running?ll, i think that what a lot of republican voters have learned or at least decided for themselves is they kind of want to get the same high and positive feeling they get out of rooting for a sports team that wins. they really like just the feeling of winning more than they like principles. and i think rightly or wrongly a lot of republicans perceive that forrers democrats have stood by their candidates lp no matter what they said or did and i still hear they say they std stood by ted kennedy after chappaquiddick, stood by bill clinton, stood by joe biden after bragging that delaware used to be a slave state. they decided these are the rules we're going to play by too and so rightly or wrongly that's where we are. >> do you really think that's a fair symmetry with the way things are now? i just don't see anyone in a democratic primary like roy moore like there's just no democratic roy moore right now. there just isn't. >> well, i mean, look, dennis kucinich has definitely said some bizar

blankenship, the coal baron ex-con came in third. we have complete results from steve kornacki at the big board coming up a bit later on in our broadcast. >>> back to our lead story. more on this bombshell news that the company michael cohen used to pay $130,000 to a porn star also received massive sums of money from an investment firm with ties to a russian oligarch, who was in turn close to vladimir putin. a document first released tonight by stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti, laid out the allegations this way. mr. viktor vekselberg and his cousin, mr. andrew intrater, routed eight payments to mr. cohen through a company named columbus nova llc beginning in january 2017, continuing until at least august 2017. according to the documents, those payments added up to approximately $500,000 and it, quote, appears these funds may have replenished the account following the payment to ms. clifford, aka stormy daniels. the documents also reveal payments from corporations like novartis, the pharma giant, at&t, korea aerospace. here

blankenship says he can still win. we will see.ship, yes it is an outsider message, and also spending a lot of money. this is the democrat up here. in the republican primary, it is these three that count. is it the outsider message, more money? going to count the votes. >> you talk about west virginia which is important. and indiana, what is the latest there? that is another important one. >> we are getting results. and again, this is one of those handful of seats. man chin in virginia. republicans think and what they think will otherwise be a bad year. pick up some seats. similar dynamic. congressman todd mockita. he is running like donald trump, more subtle saying i am a business man. look at this. he is at 41%. these margins have held. so braun businessman outsider running it up to be the republican nominee. money, mike braun spending his own money. look how much he has put into the race. the outsider message has appeal, but money helps. >> sure does. we will see how much that proves to be the path to victory. let's bring in dan

the president says don blankenship is a problem. blankenship says he's more trumpy than trump. >> it's real sad that the pressure on the president and the misinformation and the untruths that he's been given would cause him to suggest that you vote for two guys that have failed you. because i will not fail you. if i get to d.c., i will never forget who i represent and where i came from, and i can tell you, i am more capable of representing you than anyone you've ever sent to the u.s. senate. >> that man right there, don blankenship, part of a giant test today of the midterm election mood and of the trump effect on american politics. right now voters in four states, indiana, north carolina, ohio and west virginia heading to the polls to weigh in on key questions playing out in both political parties. lynn r liberal intensity, for example, being tested in the ohio primary for governor. they also have a fascinating tea party versus gop showdown. but the biggest test in this day is in west virginia where it's donald trump versus don bla

he asked voters to not vote for blankenship. >>> you think don junior is misled?> they're all mislead. >> reporter: blankenship blames mcconnell who's ads have blanketed him. in response. >> mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. his china people are given him tens of millions of dollars. i will beat and dismiss mitch. >> people are offended. >> they shouldn't be. i'm a west virginia person. you're an nbc person. in order to have a racist statement, you have to mention a race or derogatory comment about a race. >> don tells it like it is. just like trump did. and that's why he's getting support in this state. >> absolutely unreal. republicans had thought that they had successfully pushed blankenship to the edges of this race and that they were going to end up with morrissy or jenkins, one of the two. i would argue it would be more generic republicans on the ballot. what did you find? do you think blankenship is having a late surge based on your reporting? >> it sounds that way. over the course of the past 48 hours, most of the folks that i'

you're not exclusively, don don blankenship. a candidate for the u.s. senate of former massey energy sun don't let company ceo. it's good to see you here tonight again. good news, if it's true that you might have picked up as much as eight points in the balls last night and with their data, but you hear what is coming at you from the weekly standard. they say that you are another sharon angle. another roy moore and that you present a disaster to your party and the general election in west virginia. >> i think they are just wrong. they've been wrong a lot. they've been wrong so far in his campaign. i'm a little bit miffed that a china person is discriminatory. i thought that if you refer to someone as an asian or whatever you might try to throw it in that category but somebody from china is from china, somebody from the u.s. is from the u.s., but to the extent that anybody thinks that is a racial slur, i'm sorry, but i don't see it. >> martha: understood. what about cocaine mitch? i think a lot of people would say that's a big reach and that it suggests

in particular, the blankenship ad. he had the cocaine mitch ad where he tried to tie the shipping company owned by his wife's father to cocaine trafficking. listen. >> trump kept mitch mcconnell for millions of china people. his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. i will ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. >> wow. is that going to work? >> you know, i watched that ad probably 20 times and it makes me wide eyed every time. you know, i don't know if that will work. it is interesting because blankenship has been running as the trump-esque candidate. trump himself said do not vote for this man. blankenship is coming out and giving the cocaine mitch nickname. very trumpian move there. blankenship doesn't have the support of the republican establishment. he is running in the state where republicans should be able to win because trump won by 40 points in 2016. they need a strong candidate to beat joe manchin. i don't know if blankenship is the guy. >> 2018. a racist ex-con. internal numbers show

he's now urging voters not to support blankenship.ed alabama senate candidate roy moore. tweeting "don blankenship currently running for senate can't win the general election in your state. no way. remember alabama." republicans in washington are on edge, concerned that blankenship could win tomorrow but not in november. and with a narrow one-seat majority in the senate that's a risk republicans don't want to take. voters here told us they're not waiting for any one politician or industry to save them. >> so we're now in beckly, would've before this is the heart of coal country. it's a part of the state that's lost a lot of jobs in recent years. now it's kind of split. they're trying to salvage some coal jobs, bring back new ones-w but also try to find ways to innovate, to bring in new jobs. >> that was used to scoop the coal. >> reporter: byrd white, the county commissioner, tells us west virginians themselves are the state's best resource. >> very talented people. they just need a chance. they just need a job. >> reporter: that entr

blankenship. i give the people west virginia more credit. i don't think a bigoted approach to politics, something that's tearing down somebody not in the race coming from mouth of man who is convicted from jail who can't register to vote in nevada. his company has worst record of mine safety for decades. who oversaw a mine safety violations that results in death of 29 miners. i'm not sure that's a winning record even in the republican primary in west virginia. >> you're right. it will be fascinating to see which way undecided voters go. it might be only 120 or north of that thousand people who turn out to vote. very small percentage of west virginiaians will decide who's going to run against joe manchin. that's going to be race to watch. juan turn your attention to ohio. -- kucinich versus cordray. >> so much is about populist politics. you have cordray endorsed by senator warren. you have kucinich it's like a divide among democratic populist. the energy is with kucinich who was mayor of cleveland. had a terms in the house. has political con

i want an honest crook, and that's blankenship. >> let's get to tom llamas tonight, he's at blankenship's headquarters. leaders concerned that blankenship is surging. >> reporter: that's right. the real fear started after last week's debate, where blankenship really took a page out of president trump's playbook. he said, if he wins it all, he will support president trump. david? >> tom llamas, thank you. >>> there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this tuesday. the fbi on the scene at this hour. authorities are digging right now for up to six missing girls. where they're looking. our team is right there. >>> the carjacking escape. the 11-year-old girl jumping from her father's stolen car. news on their condition tonight. >>> and the breaking scene at this hour, the pictures coming in, the plant bursting into flames. smoke seen for miles. smoke seen for miles. ead.t more news ahead. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪ go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way, with anoro." ♪ go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines calle

blankenship went to jail. he went to jail associated with conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards. that act led to the biggest disaster we've seen in over 40 years in the mining space. a disaster for 29 people killed. isn't that stunning somebody who went to prison can even run for office? i want to share what gop senator jeff flake tweeted. the problem isn't that don blankenship can't win a general election in west virginia. it's that he shouldn't win a general election in west virginia. country over party. that is sort of what we would hope the president would say. >> i'm so glad that president trump came out and said boo on blankenship -- >> but he's not saying -- >> yes, he is -- >> he's saying we can't win -- >> -- because look what happened in alabama. we were talking about this before. trump endorsed reluctantly roy moore, the pistol shooting weirdo -- >> okay, but whether or not it was reluctant -- whether or not he endorsed ray moore, he endorsed him. >> but we all, everybody had to look a

john blankenship will not be the nominee.hreat to run as a write in candidate. it appears -- who the winner is. ask republicans who they favor of these two, they're fine with year one. that i believe joe mansion is one of the most vulnerable democrats in the country. they believe the president's popularity will help them here. they think either one of these republicans will be very executivetive against joe mansion. most of all, anderson, they are happy. >> john king, thank you very much i aappreciate it. joining us is dana bash and david giant. dana, have you seen the west virginia race playing out tonight and the significance offense report? >> the significance of it, first of all is according to what john just said, that we are projecting right now is that the man that republican leaders here in washington were most worried about is not going to be their nominee. that's the headline. the other two depending on who wins, they're fine with because this is a senate seat that they feel is no reason they should not win the incu

i have spoken to blankenship since his third place finish.dent trump tweeting to voters in a state he won by 42 points on instruction not to pick blankenship really did him in. >> i think. so they think the trump impact was much bigger than we hoped it would be and much bigger than we antidotally being told that it was. so i think it was a huge factor and i think it was a huge mistake on president trump's, you know part but at the same time, i think he has got the right ideas for america. >> blankenship did not call the winner attorney general patrick morrisey to congratulate him. shep? >> shepard: peter doocy live along the river bank. thank you. we are led to believe the white house press briefing will begin shortly. when it does we will interrupt this commercial break if it starts while you are away. conservative businessman, john cox. leading the opposition to jerry brown's sanctuary state. and chairman of the initiative campaign to repeal the gas tax. join me and let's make california great again. i thought after sandy hook, where 20 six

don blankenship gaining steam. he's a former coal mining executive who calls himself trumpier than trump. you'll remember that coal mine disaster, and tonight, blankenship says it was obvious that the upper big branch explosion was caused by the government. here's abc's mary bruce. >> reporter: the gop senate candidate is so controversial that tonight, his own party is telling voters not to support him. >> i'm neither despicable or a moron or a bigot. >> reporter: president trump is comparing don blankenship to the failed alabama senate candidate roy moore, tweeting blankenship "can't win the general election in your state, no way! remember alabama." blankenship responded, saying he's "trumpier than trump," but that sometimes the president gets it wrong, pointing out the president's support of accused pedophile roy moore. the coal baron just served a year in prison, after 29 people died in a 2010 explosion in one of his mines. but today, he blamed the government. >> it's as obvious as it can possibly be, the upper

blankenship, huh?rter: yeah, we pressed them both on both of those candidates throughout the day today. would you be able to unify the party, would you get behind the other guy? neither one was willing to say that they want. i'm looking at the counties, pardon me while we put the glasses on. morrisey doing well in the northern third of the state. i heard blankenship say a lot of the south vote is not in. a fair bit of it is in. how many counties in -- do you know how many counties in west virginia? blankenship leads in only 2 of the 55 west virginia counties. no, it does not look good, and we've got different sets of numbers coming in. some from the counties, some from the state, and it looks like we've got about 14-point lead for patrick morrisey. you know, here you're talking about this thing throughout the night in terms of what does this mean, blankenship said all along, he said what this was going mean, he was going to mean that he was going to win and the movement was bigger than trump. he was bi

blankenship can't win in no november. urging one of two mainstream candidates. >>> in indiana, a three-way race with todd rokeda and luke messer and mike braun. this is another seat republicans believe they can flip. >> in ohio, jim rennaci is considered the frontrunner running against michael gibbons. president trump endorsed rennaci. the winner faces democratic senator sherrod brown. >>> there are primaries to replace governor john kasich. it places richard cordray against former ohio congress member dennis cucinich. it is mike dewine against mary tayl taylor. >>> a senior white house official says the trump administration is backing jeff sessions as conservatives are threatening to hold the attorney general in contempt of congress. affairs director mark short telling cnn i think we are supportive of our cabinet. although short did knowledge frustration with the doj over records. last week, the president was ripping the justice p department on -- justice department on this very issue. >>> paul ryan is not commenting on

it is going to be a long road if blankenship unfortunately wins that race. >> martha: will have a lot to talk about in either case there when we get some more information on that. capri, let me go to you. let's talk ohio, where you watching there? >> a number of things. first and foremost, the democratic primary for governor. a matchup of four individuals. two leading folks in this race, former attorney general of ohio, former treasurer and most notably the former head of the consumer protection finance bureau for the last eight years versus dennis kucinich. dennis the menace, who was a member of congress for a number of years and famously bankrupt the city of cleveland even though they actually endorsed him for this race. i actually voted -- my former colleague in the ohio senate who is also a form at senate minority leader because he's a guy who is common sense and can actually i think bring the trump voters back into the fold since he's from the valley like i am. it will be interesting to see because this is really a matchup between the progressive wing and dennis and the establish

in e fall. >> convicted criminal don blankenship. >> desjardins: blankenship has waged war back, controversiallying leader mcconnell is pro- china because his wife, tresportation secretary ela chao, is of chinese descent and her father is a shipping tycoon. >> swamp captain mitch mcconnell has created thousands of jobs for china people. this will be decided by small group of voters in one of theo mostervative states. they seem to have love of president trump and hatred of washington in thmmon. hemes in last week's debate. >> you know, i proudly endorsed president trump in the may pry pair 2016. >> i'm the only candidate on this stage who not only has voted for donald truti at the conv and in the electoral college. >> you can't drain the swamp being like the swamp. >> desjardins: but today in another sign that blankenship ic a retender, president inump rang in, tweeting, "don blankenship canthe general election in your state. no way!" inat an annual shrimp feas bluefield, we found undecidedry voters lnd brenda bowman. >> we're going to pray about it, let's put it that way. >> desjardins: thinking

we learned last week that blankenship doesn't have the best resume.or conspiracy to violate mine safety standards, causing dozens of deaths-- you know: leadership-- now the g.o.p. is worried that if blankenship wins the republican nomination, he'll lose the election. in fact, g.o.p. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told "the new york times" that "he didn't want blankenship to win the g.o.p. race." yeah, mitch, obama wanted his nominee to be on the supreme court, but sometimes a shady bastard ruins your plans, am i right? well, blankenship came out what are you going to do? ( applause ) it's sad. well, blankenship came out swinging on monday with a brand-new campaign ad. warning, his performance is electrifying. >> hi, i'm don blankenship candidate for u.s. senate, and i approve this message. politicians have run a lot of crazy ads. they blew up the coal mine and then put me in prison. now they're running ads that say the coal mine blew up and i went to prison. there's no surprise there. >> stephen: yes, there is ( laughter ) oh, yes there is. an

here is the thing, you don't see a natural geographic base for blankenship. i don't see a pocket where he is running in first, where there's vote left, where he will make up ground. this is simply, jenkins, the southern part, democratic coal country, you see that's the jenkins color. you get to the northern part of the state, especially this is small, but the eastern panhandle, the fastest growing part of the state and right here in jefferson county, this is where patrick morrissey lives. check this out. that wasn't supposed to happen. check this out. look at the vote right now in patrick morrissey's home county. a big county we're talking about. 71% of the vote. you see state wide morrissey is leading by about 3,000 votes. the biggest piece of real estate on this map is right here. no votes from berkeley county. the second biggest county in the state. we have seen morrissey running up the score in that part of the state. morrissey is due to get a big boost out that was county. what is left for jenkins? you gotta go to the southern part of the state. huntingt

blankenship has used some very colorful, some say racist language in his campaign.ry much a campaign of grievance, if you will, so much so that some top establishment republicans have, in fact, asked the president of the united states and he has complied, agreed and went on twitter opposing the campaign of blankenship not on the merits, very interestingly because -- but because he says blankenship cannot win against joe manchin, which frankly is something we don't know the truth about right now. blan blankenship for his part has responded to that, being a bit defia defiant, indicating the president doesn't know what he's talking about or not informed. he said in a statement, i will win the primary, i will beat joe manchin. neither of my opponents can beat joe manchin without my support. i will beat manchin even without the support of the establishment. so we have been talking to the secretary of state, they say turnout is steady. they had a large number of people who voted early. so we'll see how all of that pans out. back to you. >> joe jonze fhns for us in charles

what we know is blankenship finishes third.u just heard, lead in any major region of the state. didn't have a clear big base of support. so, what are we left with? patrick morrissey, he's the republican nominee. and he will face off against joe manchin. manchin had an activist he had to beat in the democratic primary tonight, he did that handily, he gets the renomination. what can we expect? this is going to be one of the most closely contested senate races in the country. donald trump won this state by 42 points in 2016. 42 points. not a single democrat in the country up in 2018 has to run in a state more pro-trump than joe manchin. patrick morrissey, the west virginia attorney general, what will manchin do to go after him? a couple of things you can expect. number one, morrissey has a past as a lobbyist. number two, he has a past in new jersey. he ran for congress there 18 years ago in a republican primary in new jersey. i got a feeling the manchin folks will be mentioning that in the fall. so, you got that race to look forwa

does blankenship have a chance? >> i think in a general election, i really, really, really don't think that don blankenship could beat joe manchin. i think so a republican, a generic republican would have a very good chance of winning the state, because of the increasing republican tilt to the state. but i'm not sure that someone who's got a -- you know, who has done time. i'm really, really doubtful that could happen. i think manchin is probably the only democrat, the only living democrat that could possibly care the state of west virginia, but, against an ex-con, i think manchin would win fairly comfortably. >> an ex-con who's running on the trump playbook. he's painting himself as a victim of a government conspiracy. that's why he served time and was criminally liable for the death of 29 people in his own mine. he's used racially charged language, is a nice way of putting it, some might say racist language, calling elaine chao's dad a chinaman. and he is frequently attacks the media and the washington establishme

anyone that would vote for don blankenship, may as well stick a knife in their back. and twist it. >> blankenship tried to deflect criticism onto top republicans like senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell. running racially charged ads that appear to reference the family of mcconnell's wife, transportation secretary. elaine chow. >> mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. >> president trump won west virginia by more than 40 points in 2016. republicans think they have a pretty good shot here. but they're worried that blankenship and his prison record could spoil their chances to defeat democrat joe manchion this november. >>> in moscow, vladamir putin was sworn in for fourth term as president. after the first two terms he ran the country as prime minister. in all, mr. put spin has been in power more than 18 years and, he has got six more ahead of him. first lady, melania trump stepped out of the white house shadows to unveil her initiatives for the rest of her husband's presidency. >> so today i am very kmieted to announce, be best, an awareness

representative evan jenkins and former coal baron don blankenship.nkenship had served a year in prison after 29 miners died in the 2010 upper big branch mine disaster. he faced intense criticism after releasing an ad attacking senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and his "china family." patrick morrissey will now face the conservative democratic senator joe manchin in november. in ohio, richard cordray defeated former congressmember dennis kucinich in the state's democratic primary for governor. cordray served as the first director of the consumer financial protection bureau. he will now face mike dewine in november to determine who will replace outgoing ohio governor john kasich. amy:y: in indiana, vice presidet mike pence's brother, greg pence, won the republican primary for a congressional seat in eastern indiana. it was once, welcome to vice president pence's. female candidates were also big winners on tuesday. according to politico, there were 20 open democratic house primaries with women on the ballot and voters selected a female nominee in 1

it was that tweet that blankenship believes was the difference between a win and a loss. take a listen. >> it didn't work out. you know, i'm being asked, of course, whether some of the things we did, pregnawhether it cocaine mitch or criticisms of mitch mcconnell or china people that made the difference. i don't think so. i think if there was any single factor based on polling at different times, the debate, and the things i saw, it was more likely president trump's, i don't know what to call it, but don't vote for don tweet. >> reporter: the eventual winner is the attorney general patrick morrissey. he earns the right to take on the company, joe mnuchin, in the fall. on tuesday, it was indiana businessman mike brom is a surprise win beating out two sitting members of congress taking out jim donnelley. in ohio, jim renacci will take on incumbent sherrod brown. in north carolina, a number of house races had primaries. it was robert pittinger, the incumbent there, the company republican, who lost in a rematch to mark harris. it will be mark harris who will move on to the ge

i take it you think it would be bad if don blankenship wins. >> i think don blankenship is an extremeis going. aside from the incredibly offensive comments he's made and so on, this is a person -- we just heard josh talk about deregulation. this is a person who built mines that weren't safe and workers died and he went to prison because of it. i think democrats will have a case to make no matter what, but blankenship is obviously the worst possible person the republicans could put forward. >> josh, what does mitch mcconnell do? forget donald trump. what does mitch mcconnell do once again, the guy he doesn't want to get the nomination gets the nomination, if that happens? >> look, i'm not speaking for mcconnell. i'll let him speak for himself and whatever the election results are toepnight. but i will say to robbie's point about democrats wishing and hoping for a specific candidate, republicans spent $1.3 million in an attempt to get blankenship nominated in this category. they certainly see him as a candidate. if i'm taking a gander and i see liberals in washington, d.c. are actually

here's john oliver, who reviewed some of blankenship's recent political ads. >> blankenship is not onlyging in the polls right now, but he recently put out an ad, doubling down on everything you've seen so far. >> mitch mcconnell created millions of jobs for china people. while doing so, mitch has gotten rich. in fact, his china family gave him tens of millions of dollars. drain the swamp and create jobs for west virginia. i will beat joe manchin and ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. >> for the love of god, someone, at the very least, tell don bangen sh blankenship that he can make emotions when he talks, there is no such thing as a china family, and taking kids from a water park is not draining the swamp. ! "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audi

i want to get back to blankenship for a second.ormer coal executive was convicted of -- many people at home don't know this, conspiring of violating mine safety rules after a 2010 explosion. 29 people were killed. how does blankenship have a fighting chance? >> well, you know what? he has run a really odd campaign. independently wealthy and opened up his own checkbook. west virginiaians know about the disaster where 29 souls were lost in the mine disaster. my great great granddad died in a coal mine explosion. we're prideful and fight for what we believe in here. that's why my candidacy offers the hope and opportunity and the core west virginia values that we recognize and need in west virginia. >> julie: congressman evan jenkins, good luck to you. thank you very much. >> thank you for letting me be with you this morning. >> bill: like magic, here we are. did you learn anything down there? >> julie: i did. how did you get up here so fast? >> bill: new reaction from tehran today. we expect a decision from the president on the nuclea

that anti-blankenship message came as a surprise to blankenship. he said he was in touch with the white house political advisers about next steps if he won here. >> i went to them personally and talked to them along the path of this campaign to make sure we knew what we were doing and answer any questions. i don't know if he doesn't listen to the political advisers that i was directed to talk to but they assured me the president was neutral. >> this has been about which candidate is the most trump-like. now two claim to have his support. congressman evan jenkins is elated. >> we're excited that president trump gave us a shout out this morning. we feel really good. >> attorney general patrick morrisey trying to do something to diminish don blankenship. he's calling his probation office tore say he has not filed a financial disclosure. >> my campaign will be informing his probation officer in nevada about this issue to determine if this refusal to comply with federal law violates the terms of his supervised release. >> and because we interrupted the

blankenship? >> on the terrace? >> bret: trying to protect the coal industry using that same wall. >> i think that the protection has to be used very carefully. i do agree with it in this case. we got so many products coming in the u.s., whether it's steel, coal, whatever. the human right violations with people that aren't being paid into a great extent this country has been a victim of that. all the workers in the united states have been victims of the fact that we are buying stuff from overseas and those purchases do not pay any taxes for the roads, they do not pay taxes for social security. they do not pay taxes for your medical care so when you buy that product it looks inexpensive but it's actually very expensive because if those products were being made by american workers they would be paying taxes that would help balance the budget, help provide medical care, help get people off the street and fix the opioid epidemic. it's a very dangerous, slippery slope to go down and that needs to be done analytically and