Mark Maynard is not a used car salesman in the rhetorical or pejorative sense. He is a for-real used car salesman and he just defeated the longest-sitting state senator in West Virginia.
Maynar and the Associated Press both claim that he unseated his opponent because people really don't like President Obama.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Mark Maynard owns a used car lot, runs a towing business and spends his spare time on a professional drag racing pit crew. And despite not raising a dime for his Republican campaign and agreeing with his Democratic opponent on almost all the issues, he defeated West Virginia's longest-sitting state senator.
"Everybody's low approval rating of the president and the way he was running the country, I got some votes through that," said Maynard, 42.
Maynard and his opponent, incumbent Senator Truman Chafin, agreed on many points and both courted the coal industry by opposing the president's plans to cut carbon emissions and subsidize clean energy. Maynard had the advantage, however, because he wasn't the one with a D after his name.
Racism plays a bigger role in midterm elections when conservatives are motivated to vote by animus while liberals who are content with the world are not as motivated.
West Virginia saw its lowest level of voter turnout in 64 years.