Don Blankenship loses West Virginia GOP Senate primary

He got the most attention, but that didn't translate to a win for Don Blankenship; the former coal executive and ex-convict came in third in Tuesday's West Virginia Republican Senate primary race.

Several news outlets project that the state's attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, has won, with Rep. Evan Jenkins coming in second. Morrisey has 35 percent of the vote, compared to 29 percent for Jenkins and Blankenship's 20 percent. While conceding on Tuesday night, Blankenship said he "failed West Virginians" because he "didn't get it done," and warned that "the Republican Party needs to be careful about being hijacked."

Blankenship, who served a year in prison for his role in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster that killed 29 miners in 2010, released ads calling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) "Cocaine Mitch" and referred to relatives of McConnell's wife, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, as "Chinapeople."

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