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U.S. House speaker says Jenkins ‘going to win’

Herald-Dispatch photo by Sholten Singer Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner (R-OH), center, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), left, and Republican challenger for the Congressional Third District W.Va. Senator Evan Jenkins speak with media after touring the coal handling facility River-Trading Company-Docks Creek on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, along the Big Sandy River in Kenova, W.Va.
Herald-Dispatch photo by Sholten Singer
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner (R-OH), center, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), left, and Republican challenger for the Congressional Third District W.Va. Senator Evan Jenkins speak with media after touring the coal handling facility River-Trading Company-Docks Creek on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, along the Big Sandy River in Kenova, W.Va.

KENOVA, W.Va. — Making a declarative statement about state Sen. Evan Jenkins’ chances in the race for West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District Seat, U.S. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., took a brief tour of a coal facility with the candidate Wednesday afternoon.

“There are a lot of places in America I could be right now,” Boehner said, addressing the media at the Docks Creek coal terminal near Kenova. “But I’m here in West Virginia because Evan Jenkins is going to win this race, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure he wins this race.”

Jenkins, who switched to the Republican party last year after serving nearly 20 years in the state Legislature as a Democrat, is taking on incumbent Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., who has been in office for 38 years.

The focus of the race from the beginning has been to outstrip the opponent in support of West Virginia’s coal industry, with Rahall winning the endorsement from the United Mine Workers of America, and Jenkins gaining the endorsement of the West Virginia Coal Association.

Boehner stuck to the Republican tactic of linking Rahall with the Obama Administration on Wednesday, with Walden naming Rahall as an enemy of the timber industry in his state of Oregon.

“We’re here at this terminal to see the challenges they’re facing, and, frankly, the challenges they are facing come right out of Washington, D.C.,” Boehner said. “This is the greatest form of energy we have in America…

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