Republican Party leadership narrowly avoided what they saw as a potential disaster in West Virginia on Tuesday night, with state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey holding off former coal company CEO and ex-convict Don Blankenship and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins to win the party’s Senate primary.
Mr. Morrisey will now go on to face incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin, widely seen as the most vulnerable Democrat on the ballot this year, in the November election.
Mr. Morrisey, who built his political reputation battling the Obama administration in court on a host of hot-button issues, came out on top of an ugly primary battle that saw GOP leaders — including President Trump — intervene late in the race in the hopes of keeping Mr. Blankenship from winning....
Mr. Morrisey’s victory Tuesday is a welcome establishment for national Republican leaders, who believe the attorney general has a real shot to defeat Mr. Manchin.