documents showing that the MSHA Upper Big Branch internal report was falsified and that the company was forced by the MSHA to use a defective ventilation system. He also expressed a belief that Donald Trump's proposed Mexico-United States border wall in conjunction ending sanctuary cities would help stop drug trafficking. Blankenship said he was "Trumpier than Trump" but that the establishment was misinforming him because they did not want him "to be in the U.S. Senate and promote the president's agenda." The national Republican leadership and allied groups made statements and ran ads against Blankenship, and the day before the Republican primary, Trump posted a tweet urging voters to vote for either of Blankenship's major primary opponents, Evan Jenkins and Patrick Morrisey, because Blankenship would not be competitive in the general election. Trump's tweet came in the wake of reporting that internal Republican polling had shown a surge in Blankenship's support among likely primary voters. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Blankenship harshly criticized in his campaign, reportedly urged Trump to express opposition to Blankenship. During the Republican primary campaign, Blankenship received criticism for calling McConnell's wife Elaine Chao a "China person." After Patrick Morrisey won the primary, Blankenship reentered the race as the nominee of the West Virginia Constitution Party. Throughout his campaign he made a claim that the Upper Big Branch explosion was caused by the negligence of Mine Safety and Health Administration officials. In the wake of his unsuccessful campaign, Blankenship sued numerous media organizations and individual journalists, alleging defamation, false light, invasion of privacy, and civil conspiracy because they misstated he was a "felon" after being convicted and served one year in prison for a federal criminal conspiracy offense when it was actually classified as misdemeanor; the case was dismissed at the federal district court level and that decision was affirmed on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on February 22, 2023. 2020 U.S. presidential campaign Blankenship launched his campaign for the Constitution Party nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election in October 2019 during a meeting of the Constitution Party national committee. He was nominated for president at the virtual Constitution Party Convention on the second ballot on May 2, 2020, with William Mohr as his running mate. Blankenship and Mohr went on to receive 59,924 votes. Political positions Blankenship supports Friends of Coal, a West Virginia advocacy