'Trumpier Than Trump' Candidate Loses in W.Va

He claimed be "Trumpier than Trump"—but he couldn't overcome President Trump's opposition to his candidacy. Retired coal baron and ex-federal convict Don Blankenship finished in third place in West Virginia's hard-fought Senate primary on Tuesday. State Attorney General Patrick Morrissey won and will face incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin in November, the New York Times reports. Blankenship, seen by Trump and other Republicans as having no chance in the general election, noted in his concession speech late Tuesday that his probation for skirting safety rules before an explosion that killed 29 miners was minutes away from ending. "I haven’t really thought about what I’m going to do tomorrow,” he said. "I may be in Aruba before sunset." In other results:

• Incumbent loses in NC. Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger lost to former Baptist pastor Mark Harris in a North Carolina race, becoming the first sitting House member to lose in a primary this year, reports the Washington Post.

• Easy win for Pence. Greg Pence, older brother of Mike Pence, easily won the Republican primary for the vice president's old House seat in Indiana, which was vacated by Rep. Luke Messer's Senate run, CNN reports. "He’s making Hoosiers & the Pence family proud. Good luck in November!" tweeted Mike Pence.
• Outsider wins in Indiana. In the state's GOP senate primary, businessman Mike Braun cruised to victory over Messer and Rep. Todd Mokita despite their attacks on his history as a Democratic voter, Politico reports. Braun attacked his rivals for entering politics at a young age and spending their working lives collecting government paychecks.
• It'll be Cordray vs. Dewine in Ohio. In Ohio, Obama-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray defeated former Rep. Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic nomination to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. John Kasich, the AP reports. In November, he will face state Attorney General Mike DeWine, who was likened to former President Obama and Hillary Clinton by Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor during a bitter GOP primary campaign.
• Trump's Ohio choice wins. Rep. Jim Renacci, a former car dealer endorsed by Trump, defeated businessman Mike Gibbons and other Republicans in Ohio's Senate primary, the Dayton Daily News reports. He will face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in November.

(More Election 2018 stories.)