Trump-backed W.Va. primary winner: Manchin support ‘certainly didn’t help’ opponent

Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), who beat out fellow incumbent Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) Tuesday in the midterm cycle’s first incumbent-on-incumbent primary match-up, said that Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) appearance in a campaign ad for McKinley “certainly did not help my opponent.”

During an interview on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning, Mooney was asked about Manchin’s apparent support for McKinley after the West Virginia Democrat appeared in a campaign ad for Mooney’s opponent. Mooney was asked if he felt the move helped or hurt McKinley.

“Yes, it was one of the weirder moments to wake up one day and see a Democrat U.S. senator who voted to impeach Donald Trump twice try to tell Republican primary voters how to vote. It certainly did not help my opponent. It may have hurt him, but it certainly didn’t help,” Mooney responded.

“I was surprised. I mean it’s, frankly, quite arrogant of a Democrat senator to think he can intervene in a Republican primary like that, not to mention the nasty personal attack and false way that he did it,” he continued. “It was — I think it was embarrassing to him. Obviously, he’s afraid of me. But it certainly didn’t help.”

Mooney was one of three candidates endorsed by former President Trump to win their respective primaries on Tuesday.

During the race for a newly drawn congressional district, Trump and Mooney hit McKinley over his vote in favor of establishing a committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his support for the bipartisan infrastructure law.

McKinley was backed by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R), and late last month Manchin appeared in a campaign ad for him.

“The ad speaks for itself,” Manchin spokesperson Sam Runyon told The Hill when asked if the senator’s ad appearance indicated he was endorsing the West Virginia Republican.