In a rare GOP primary, two West Virginia congressmen are going head-to-head as a result of the county re-election, and former President Donald Trump endorses one of them.
But while Trump touts his pick, Alex Mooney, as a “conservative warrior,” it is the so-called RINO (Republican in name only), David McKinley, who has been more supportive of Trump’s agenda during his presidency.
McKinley supported Trump’s White House position on bills 91.1 percent of the time, while Mooney voted so 86.4 percent of the time, according to CQ Roll Call data. McKinley opposed Trump’s position just 15 times compared to Mooney’s 23 times.
The race between the two House incumbents has garnered a number of notable endorsements and will test Trump’s hold on Republican voters. While Mooney has Trump’s support, McKinley has been endorsed by Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, as well as Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served under Trump.
Jeff Swensen / Stringer
In a statement announcing his support of Mooney, Trump called McKinley “a RINO who supports the ‘Unfrastructure Bill’ and the Sham 6 January Unselect Committee.”
Trump was referring to McKinley’s votes in the House of Representatives supporting President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and the establishment of a House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riots in the US Capitol in the past year.
McKinley — who championed infrastructure funding when he was first elected to Congress in 2010 — is among 13 House Republicans who have repeatedly condemned Trump for supporting the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The congressman said the legislation is expected to provide West Virginia with more than $700 million over the next five years.
On the same day that Biden signed the bill into law, Trump endorsed Mooney — a move McKinley had anticipated. “They said, ‘You know, if that happens, Trump will support your opponent,'” he told Roll Call.
The 75-year-old civil engineer and seventh-generation West Virginian was also one of 35 House Republicans who voted to create the Jan. 6 commission. He told West Virginia radio station MetroNews that the new panel “would help us get to the bottom of what happened that day and understand the factors that contributed to it.”
Mooney voted once morest both the infrastructure bill and the January 6 committee.
McKinley’s vote on the infrastructure bill earned him the backing of the governor of West Virginia, a Trump ally. But enthusiasm for the former president remains high in the Mountain State. Trump won in every county in both 2016 and 2020, winning more than two-thirds of the state’s voters.
“McKinley also betrayed Republican voters in West Virginia and the great people of West Virginia,” Trump said Tuesday at a telerally for Mooney. “You know, I won there twice, and I won by almost record-breaking numbers.”
news week has reached out to McKinley and Trump for comment.