GOP Chair talks Trump, Kavanaugh

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With President Donald Trump scheduled to visit West Virginia on Saturday, the West Virginia Republican Party chairwoman is feeling confident about the chances of the U.S. Senate candidate Trump will be touting, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

“He’s been with Donald Trump every bit of the way on deregulating some industries like the coal industry, and I think that is huge because we put coal miners back to work,” Melody Potter said. “He’s a Second Amendment person, he’s pro-life, and I think people know that Patrick Morrisey does his job.”

Trump will take part in a rally in Wheeling, his second West Virginia event within a six-week period. He is expected to touch on the nation’s economic gains and why voters should back Morrisey in November.

The attorney general is in need of a boost; he remains behind U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in polls. Political analysis organizations — including the Cook Political ReportSabato’s Crystal Balland FiveThirtyEight — have the race going Manchin’s direction.

Potter, however, said the state Republican Party is working to sell the party and Morrisey’s messages, which includes opening campaign election headquarters and victory centers across the state, such as the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee’s operations on Monday.

Potter added Morrisey is prepared for the final 43 days of the election season and internal polls show the attorney general within the margin of error.

“He can outwork anybody. He’s like the Energizer Bunny,” she said.

Another race that has caught both state and national attention is the 3rd Congressional District contest; state Sen. Richard Ojeda, D-Logan, and Delegate Carol Miller, R-Cabell, have gone back and forth.

A poll released last week by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has Ojeda up four points — within the margin of error of 4.2 percent — but analysts have given the race ratings between “toss-up” and “likely Republican.”

The DCCC has the 3rd District as one of the races it is working to shift from Republican to Democrat.

Current Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., did not run for reelection, instead opting for a Senate bid. Gov. Jim Justice appointed him to the state Supreme Court in August.

The 1st and 2nd Congressional District races are “safe” or “solid” Republican depending on the organization.

Potter said this race has the chance to flip given its history; Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall served 38 years in the House — 26 years representing the now-defunct 4th District and 12 years for the 3rd District — before losing to Jenkins in the 2014 midterm elections.

“We don’t want to let that go back into the hands of the Democrats,” she said. “If they get back control of the House or the Senate, the first thing that they’re going to do is they are going to try to probably impeach the president.”

Ojeda has not made any reported comments regarding impeaching the president. He has previously said he would not support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The relationship between Ojeda and Potter goes back to March when the two engaged in a Twitter exchange following Ojeda’s meeting with filmmaker Michael Moore. The interview between Moore and the lawmaker is in Moore’s latest documentary, “Fahrenheit 11/9,” which is critical of the Trump administration.

She said Monday she has not seen the film and has no plans to do so.

“He’s just the opposite of people that have West Virginia values,” she said of Ojeda.

Potter has come out in support of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has been delayed following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh denied the allegations in an interview Monday with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.

“I think that people should be heard, but when the opportunity has been given more than one time for Dr. [Christine Blasey] Ford to be heard and she keeps delaying it, I think we need to go ahead and have the vote,” she said.

“I think our Republicans need to get some backbone and they need to have the vote and stand by him because there has not been any evidence presented. Democrats just keep delaying the hearings. It’s a tactic on their part.”

Potter noted it has been decades since Kavanaugh’s alleged acts happened, adding there needs to be substantial evidence to back the accusations.

“I’ve talked about this with other people, and we have felt like if they keep delaying and delaying, they’re going to drag somebody else out of the dust to make accusations. I think it’s terrible,” she said. “People need to think about our nation and what’s at stake here, and your own political gain is not worth putting our whole nation at stake.”

Kavanaugh and Ford are scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Story by Alex Thomas