West Virginia lawmaker slams GOP colleague over support for infrastructure law

Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) slammed his primary opponent and fellow West Virginia Rep. David McKinley (R) for supporting President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure package in an ad released on Tuesday. 

“It was a bill no conservative would support, but David McKinley did,” a narrator says in the ad, which was featured in Punchbowl News. “Biden’s trillion-dollar spending bill was dead until McKinley resurrected it.” 

The ad refers to McKinley as a “RINO,” an acronym for “Republican in name only,” and says the legislation has contributed to record inflation in the U.S. 

McKinley was one of the 13 House Republicans who voted for the infrastructure package, which Biden signed into law last month. Former President Trump and his wing of the party have slammed the legislation, as well as the Republicans who voted for it. 

“Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts, and known losers!” Trump said in a statement that was used in Mooney’s ad. 

“Any interest from good and SMART America First Republican Patriots to run primary campaigns against Representatives Tom Rice, John Katko, Don Bacon, Don Young, Fred Upton (challenge accepted), Andrew Garbarino, Peter Meijer (challenge accepted), David McKinley (challenge accepted), Nancy Mace, Jaime Herrera Beutler (challenge accepted) and Chris Smith?” Trump continued in the statement. 

Trump endorsed Mooney over McKinley last month. McKinley’s backing of the infrastructure package was not the first time the West Virginia congressman has gone against the former president. McKinley voted against efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He also supported an investigation into the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. 

“Mooney has done an outstanding job as Congressman in West Virginia,” Trump said in his endorsement. “In fact, he recently opposed the horrendous Biden Administration’s ‘Non-Infrastructure’ plan, and he opposed the January 6th Committee, also known as the Unselect Committee of partisan hacks and degenerates.”

McKinley and Mooney were pitted against each other after West Virginia lost a congressional district in redistricting this year in October. 

Editor’s Note: The lead of this story has been updated to reflect it was Rep. David McKinley who voted for the infrastructure package.