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riversedge

(70,272 posts) Fri Mar 23, 2018, 05:18 AM Mar 2018

Exclusive: U.S. miners' union to endorse two more Democrats in coal country #WV

March 22, 2018 / 9:19 AM / Updated 18 hours ago

Exclusive: U.S. miners' union to endorse two more Democrats in coal country
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-coal-endorsements-exclus/exclusive-u-s-miners-union-to-endorse-two-more-democrats-in-coal-country-idUSKBN1GY1YM

(Reuters) - ..............

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The United Mine Workers of America on Friday will endorse Richard Ojeda for U.S. Representative in the state’s third district, as well as incumbent Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat and former West Virginia governor, the sources said. They asked not to be named as they were discussing a confidential matter.

The union sees Ojeda and Manchin as supportive of major issues facing coal miners, particularly efforts to preserve their pensions, the sources said. In addition, neither candidate has fully embraced the Democratic Party’s push for climate regulation, a sticking point for miners.

Trump’s White House win in 2016 was due in part to his promise to revive the ailing coal industry, which has lost more than 40 percent of its work force in less than a decade, by rolling back environmental regulation. While his administration has chipped away at regulations, the coal sector remains in the doldrums, under pressure from cheaper and cleaner natural gas, more than a year into Trump’s presidency.

Republican control of Congress will be at stake in midterm elections in November, when all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 Senate seats will be up for grabs.

The endorsements in West Virginia this week follow the union’s support for Conor Lamb in a special election for a House seat in Pennsylvania that he won earlier this month. ......................................