President Donald Trump waded into the heated West Virginia Senate primary on Thursday, promoting two party favorites at the expense of a third Republican candidate the GOP hierarchy is trying to defeat — coal baron and former prisoner Don Blankenship.

During an ostensibly official event to tout the tax reform law, the president was flanked by two mainstream Republicans, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who are competing in the May 8 primary for the right to take on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Early in the event, Trump introduced both men, who each gave a brief speech showering the commander in chief with praise.


The president did not mention Blankenship, who was not in attendance.

At the end of the event, Trump polled the audience on which of the two candidates they’d be supporting in the primary. Prompted by Trump to applaud for their choice, people in the audience cheered first for Morrisey and then for Jenkins.

“It was fairly close,” the president joked after the applause.

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Morrisey and Jenkins sat closer to the president than the state’s two most senior elected Republicans, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Gov. Jim Justice, who were at separate tables. The White Sulphur Springs event, which was in the works for several weeks, drew a number of the state’s Republican officeholders and small-business owners, who touted the benefits of the tax reform law.

The seating arrangement was seen by senior Republicans as a subtle dig at Blankenship, who was imprisoned for a year after a blast at his Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 workers — which occurred eight years ago Thursday to the day. Blankenship has been saturating the state’s airwaves with TV ads castigating Jenkins and Morrisey as pawns of the establishment and portraying himself as a victim of an Obama Justice Department bent on locking him up.

Senior Republicans are deeply concerned about Blankenship’s rise and have been deliberating whether to intervene to stop him in the contest. They view him as damaged goods and worry the GOP would cede a winnable seat if he were to capture the nomination. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has openly said he would like someone other than Blankenship to win the nomination.

Trump’s Thursday appearance was widely seen as an initial strike against the coal baron. The president described Jenkins and Morrisey as “two very smart representatives” of West Virginia.

“You’ve got a pretty close race going, I understand,” Trump added, before encouraging attendees to vote.

As he wrapped up his remarks, the president wished the two “good luck.” Backstage, Trump spoke and took pictures with Jenkins and Morrisey as well as other elected officials.

The event undermined the 68-year-old Blankenship, who has framed himself as a staunch ally of the president.

“We don’t need to investigate our president,” says one Blankenship TV ad. “We need to arrest Hillary.”

Whether the national GOP goes after Blankenship more directly remains to be seen. Some senior Republicans worry that ambushing him with TV ads could backfire. They liken the situation to last year’s Alabama Senate contest, in which the party launched an unsuccessful campaign to stop former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore from winning the nomination.

When asked about the seating arrangements, a White House official noted that Jenkins and Morrisey have been supportive of the tax legislation.

A spokesperson for Blankenship did not respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for Jenkins and Morrisey.

The White House has used an official event to signal its political preferences before. In December, Trump flew to Salt Lake City to appear at a ceremonial event with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) as part of an ultimately unsuccessful campaign to persuade him to run for reelection.

