--- title: Don Blankenship Defends 'China People' in W.V. Senate Ad description: Don Blankenship's political ad stirred controversy over terms like "China people" and references to Sen. Mitch McConnell as "cocaine Mitch." canonical: https://time.com/5265521/don-blankenship-west-virginia-senate-ad-china-people/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-04T15:18:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:10:52.509Z article:section: Politics og:title: West Virginia Coal Baron Won't Stop Saying 'China People' in His Senate Ad og:description: He said the term isn't racist, because the only races are "Negro, white Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian" og:url: https://time.com/5265521/don-blankenship-west-virginia-senate-ad-china-people/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512b8b61cad34491/69892f92fb4eacd1ad89688e/don-blankenship-wv1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4449 og:image:height: 2503 og:image:alt: don-blankenship-wv og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: West Virginia Coal Baron Won't Stop Saying 'China People' in His Senate Ad twitter:description: He said the term isn't racist, because the only races are "Negro, white Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512b8b61cad34491/69892f92fb4eacd1ad89688e/don-blankenship-wv1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # West Virginia Coal Baron Won't Stop Saying 'China People' in His Senate Ad > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 4, 2018 3:18 PM UTC  Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 4, 2018 3:18 PM UTC Republican West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship’s latest [political ad](http://time.com/5231351/facebook-political-advertising-verification/) has stirred controversy for its use of terms like “China people” and references to [Sen. Mitch McConnell](http://time.com/5244421/robert-mueller-donald-trump-bill/) as “cocaine Mitch” and his “China family.” Blankenship, who is vying the chance to challenge [West Virginia](http://time.com/4886765/west-virginia-rally-jim-justice-republican-trump/) Sen. Joe Manchin in November, is already known across his state. He spent a year in federal prison for mine safety violations following the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 miners. Blankenship was CEO of Massey Energy, the company that owned the mine. > [](https://twitter.com/RobertMaguire%5F/status/992158478155354114) “Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people, while doing so, Mitch has gotten rich,” Blankenship monotones in the ad. “In fact, his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars. Mitch’s swamp people are now running false negative ads about me. They are also childishly calling me despicable and mentally ill. The war to drain the swamp and create jobs for West Virginia people has begun. I will beat Joe Manchin and ditch cocaine Mitch for he sake of the kids.” He’s defended his use of the phrase “China people” to news outlets saying the term was not racist. “There’s no mention of race. I’ve never used a race word,” [Blankenship said in an interview](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/03/politics/don-blankenship-mitch-mcconnell-ad/index.html) where he added races are “Negro, white Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian.” In an explanation Blankenship gave for the ad on his campaign website, the candidate says that McConnell’s father-in-law “founded and owns a large Chinese shipping company” and claimed he has given McConnell and his wife millions of dollars. As for the “cocaine Mitch” reference, Blankenship is referencing an article from the _Nation_ that claims that McConnell’s in-law’s company was found with drugs on one of its ships. However, the shipping company is actually American and based in New York, [the Washington _Post_ notes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/05/04/the-kooky-tale-of-cocaine-mitch/?utm%5Fterm=.cd4a31fe0f25). James S. C. Chao, McConnell’s father-in-law and owner of the Foremost Group (the shipping company in question), is Chinese. The _Post_ also notes that there’s no record of the McConnell getting millions from his in-laws and no charges were filed for any drugs allegedly found on board a ship. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5265521/don-blankenship-west-virginia-senate-ad-china-people/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5265521/don-blankenship-west-virginia-senate-ad-china-people/"},"headline":"West Virginia Coal Baron Won't Stop Saying 'China People' in His Senate Ad","datePublished":"2018-05-04T15:18:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:10:52.509Z","description":"He said the term isn't racist, because the only races are \"Negro, white Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian\"","url":"https://time.com/5265521/don-blankenship-west-virginia-senate-ad-china-people/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512b8b61cad34491/69892f92fb4eacd1ad89688e/don-blankenship-wv1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512b8b61cad34491/69892f92fb4eacd1ad89688e/don-blankenship-wv1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"don-blankenship-wv","caption":"","creditText":"Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. 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