Jennifer Gibson

Jennifer Gibson is the daughter of GOP Senate hopeful, Don Blankenship. Her 68-year-old father is currently after West Virginia’s senate seat.

Jennifer’s dad has been quite the controversial figure, you may remember him as the man who was at the front of one of the nation’s largest coal companies, Massey Energy. During his time as Massey Energy’s chief one of the country’s deadliest coal mine disasters took place.

Back in 2010, 29 of the 31 coal miners at Massey’s Upper Big Branch were killed in an explosion. He retired later that same year. He was held responsible for the coal mining disaster and in 2016 he was ordered to serve 1 year in federal prison and pay a $250,000 fine. He was released in May of 2017.

Blankenship graduated from college in 1972 with a degree in accounting. He says after college, as a certified public accountant, he worked in the food industry, Keebler and Flower’s bakery. In 1982, he got his first job with Massey in 1982 and then, over the years, worked his way up to be the only person to run the company that was not a member of the Massey family.

He is also known for his management style, described as quasi-dictatorial by the NY Times. Don was previously embroiled in another incident in which he allegedly grabbed his former maid by the wrist and gave her a lecture –this after the got his breakfast order wrong.

Despite being a controversial figure, his daughter Jennifer Gibson remains a private person. She has a brother John –who is a dirt track car racer.

Jennifer’s parents divorced a long time ago, in an article, she describes her mother as an alcoholic saying his father divorced her “when he could no longer bear the pain of this type of existence.”

Jennifer Gibson who wrote a letter on behalf of his father, added

“Dad raised John and me on his own after they were divorced,” “It amazes me that even before the breakup, he managed to hold his career and our family life together in spite of the mental toll that addictions can have on a person and a family.”

Jennifer Gibson wasn’t only supportive of her father following the coal mining disaster, she also appears on a YouTube video inviting people to vote for him. Gibson is the mother of two small daughters.