ELECTION/GOP/SENATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald J. Trump intervened Monday [5-7-18] in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary, pleading with voters a day before the election to oppose the former mine operator Don Blankenship, and suggesting that Mr. Blankenship’s nomination would lead to a replay of the party’s embarrassing loss last year in Alabama. Mr. Trump’s decision to speak out on the race came after Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, whom Mr. Blankenship has targeted in a deeply personal manner, urged the president in a telephone call on Sunday to weigh in against the controversial former coal executive, according to a Republican official familiar with the conversation. On Tuesday [5-8-18], a handful of states — including West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana — are holding primary contests where Republicans are hoping to nominate candidates who can help the party keep control of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections. Mr. Trump’s plea gave voice to this anxiety, suggesting that a victory by Mr. Blankenship in the primary would all but ensure the re-election of the Democratic incumbent, Senator Joe Manchin II.”
-Jonathan Martin, “At McConnell’s Urging, Trump Asks West Virginians Not to Vote for Don Blankenship,” The New York Times online, May 7, 2018