GOP Senate candidate Don Blankenship explains why he called McConnell 'Cocaine Mitch'

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

In the days leading up to West Virginia's Republican primary next week, Don Blankenship has continued to attack Senate Majority Mitch McConnell.

The West Virginia Republican released an ad this week that called the Senate Republican leader "Cocaine Mitch."

"One of my goals as U.S. senator will be to ditch Cocaine Mitch," he says toward the end of the ad. (The ad appeared to be taken offline Tuesday before it was reposted.)

Blankenship's campaign on Tuesday explained the reasoning behind its nickname for McConnell. It pointed to a 2014 article published in the days before McConnell won his re-election campaign that year. Progressive-leaning The Nation reported that 90 pounds of cocaine had been discovered aboard a vessel owned by the Foremost Group, founded and owned by McConnell's father-in-law, James Chao.

"The company was implicated recently in smuggling cocaine from Colombia to Europe. Hidden aboard a company ship carrying foreign coal was $7 million of cocaine and that is why we've deemed him 'Cocaine Mitch,'" the Blankenship campaign said in a statement.

His campaign did not immediately return a request for additional comment.

In his quest to become the next senator from West Virginia, Blankenship — the former CEO of Massey Energy who served a one-year sentence in connection with the deadliest U.S. coal mining explosion in decades — has made it part of his mission to take on McConnell. He has accused the Kentucky Republican of not being transparent about potential conflicts of interest related his father-in-law, a "wealthy China person."

McConnell is married to Elaine Chao, the current Secretary of Transportation.

McConnell's office referred questions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The NRSC declined to comment.

Perhaps Blankenship's efforts to tap into an anti-establishment mentality are all for naught, though. The West Virginia Republican primary is on May 8. And despite being considered an early front-runner, a recent Fox News poll found that Blankenship is now in third, behind Rep. Evan Jenkins and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.