West Virginia Primary: What You Need To Know

CHARLESTON, WV — West Virginia voters who haven't already voted will head to the polls Tuesday for the state's primary election.

Up for grabs are several key offices, including a U.S. Senate race and three U.S. House races. All eyes will be on one primary race though, where a former coal baron who was recently released from prison after a coal mining accident now seeks the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

Senate

The Senate race has garnered attention from national media outlets and even President Donald Trump, who on Monday urged voters to pick someone other than Republican candidate Don Blankenship, a former coal mine owner who was incarcerated over a 2010 mining explosion that left 29 workers dead. Blankenship was released from federal prison in May 2017 and is currently on probation for a misdemeanor conviction of plotting to willfully violate safety standards at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine.

The winner of the primary will in all likelihood go on to face Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.

On Monday, Trump tweeted: "To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!"

Blankenship's campaign has taken a nativist tone and paid lip service to conspiracy theories, CNN reported. Trump, who won 68 percent of the state in the 2016 election, suggested that Blankenship’s candidacy could result in a similar outcome to the party’s stunning loss of a GOP controlled Senate seat in Alabama.

Blankenship, the former Massey Energy CEO, responded to Trump's denouncement saying in a statement that the president "doesn't know me and he doesn't know how flawed my two main opponents are in this primary."

Blankenship said establishment Republicans are giving Trump bad information and promised that he would be able to defeat Manchin in November.

"Tomorrow, West Virginia will send the swamp a message—no one, and I mean no one, will tell us how to vote. As some have said, I am Trumpier than Trump and this morning proves it," Blankenship said.

The Republican U.S. Senate primary, has six candidates, including 3rd District Congressman Evan Jenkins, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Blankenship.

The other GOP candidates are miner Bo Copley, truck driver Jack Newbrough and West Virginia National Guard Maj. Tom Willis.

On the Democratic side, Manchin, faces Paula Jean Swearengin, a Bernie Sanders Democrat who comes from a coal-mining family.

House

House congressional districts 1, 2 and 3 are also up for grabs. Four Democrats and seven Republicans are running for the 3rd District seat, which is being vacated by Jenkins.

Democratic state Sen. Richard Ojeda will take on state Delegate Shirley Love, Huntington bus service CEO Paul Davis and nurse Janice Hagerman in the 3rd district race.

On the GOP side, former state Republican Party Chairman Conrad Lucas, state delegates Marty Gearheart, Rupie Phillips and Carol Miller, former delegate Rick Snuffer, Dr. Ayne Amjad and Philip Payton will square off for the seat.

Congressmen David McKinley from the 1st District and Alex Mooney from the 2nd District are unopposed in the GOP primary.

The 1st District Democratic primary pits Keyser attorney Tom Payne, retired law firm CEO Ralph Baxter of Wheeling and West Virginia University law professor Kendra Fershee.

In November, Mooney will face either U.S. Army veteran Aaron Scheinberg or former Hillary Clinton state presidential campaign director Talley Sergent.

Polls

The polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Voters must abide by the new voter ID requirement and show valid identification to poll workers.

This could be a driver’s license, student ID, social security card, Medicare card, concealed carry permit, hunting and fishing license or something else.

Click here to find your polling location.

State elections officials are encouraging voters and poll workers to report inappropriate election or campaign activities they see.

Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images