Manchin jabs challenger with ad highlighting mine explosion

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) highlighted a 1968 mine explosion in his first reelection ad on Wednesday — an apparent jab at a potential Republican opponent who oversaw a company responsible for another fatal mine disaster.

Manchin’s video is seen as a reference to Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy and a contender for the Republican nomination.

Blankenship was convicted in 2015 of conspiring to violate safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine, where a mine disaster in 2010 left 29 people dead. Blankenship was released from his 1-year prison sentence in 2017.

In his campaign ad, Manchin stands in front of what appears to be a memorial for those that died in an earlier mine explosion in 1968 and points out the names of people he knew who died.

“I lost an uncle, I lost a neighbor, I lost guys I played ball with,” Manchin says. “This is real for me.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/383728-manchin-slams-opponent-over-mine-disaster-in-first-campaign-ad