![](https://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/former-massey-energy-ceo-and-ex-con-blankenship-running-for-us-senate.jpg)
Trump urges Republicans to reject ex-coal exec in West Virginia U.S. Senate race
Blankenship served time in prison for safety violations connected to a 2010 disaster that killed 29 miners and is seen as the weakest of the three candidates in the upcoming primary.