BLUEFIELD, WV — Controversial GOP Senate hopeful Don Blankenship is battling with GOP leaders in Washington, publicly chastising President Donald Trump’s son and continuing a blistering attack against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

On Friday morning, Blankenship took to Twitter to say he was a “victim of fake news and a corrupt Obama DOJ,” a direct response to Donald Trump Jr., who Thursday urged West Virginia primary voters to “reject” Blankenship and compared him to defeated Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

During a town hall-style event here Thursday night, Blankenship called comparisons of him to Judge Roy Moore “disappointing.” And in an interview with NBC News, Blankenship said Republicans like Trump Jr are being misled. “The interesting thing is not a single one up there has spoken to me.”

While he contends that the president needs him in the Senate, his potential colleagues there are his biggest target of his campaign and Blankenship continues his personal attacks on McConnell. In a new ad, Blankenship claims, “swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people. While doing so, Mitch has gotten rich. In fact, his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars.” 

A statement on the Blankenship campaign website claims that “Mitch McConnell and his family have extensive ties to China. His father-in-law who founded and owns a large Chinese shipping company has given Mitch and his wife millions of dollars over the years.”

McConnell’s wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, is a naturalized American citizen who was born in Taiwan. Her parents are Chinese. Blankenship denied that the ad is racist, telling NBC News that “in order to have a racist statement you have to mention a race or a derogatory comment about a race.”

Blankenship said he has targeted McConnell because the Senate leader and his “minions” have “spent a million and a half dollars” to “attack me and say things about me that aren’t true.”

To date, Blankenship’s campaign has spent about $2.3m on TV ads — far outspending his Republican primary rivals. The primary is next Tuesday.