From the Associated Press via WV Public Broadcasting:

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is hosting a town hall meeting for voters next week as he revs up his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Blankenship's campaign said in a news release Wednesday the meeting will be held Jan. 18 at the Chief Logan Lodge, Hotel and Conference Center in Logan.

Blankenship will face U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in the May 8 GOP primary. Democrat Joe Manchin is running for re-election.

The 67-year-old Blankenship was released from prison last May after serving a one-year term for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia. Twenty-nine men died in a 2010 explosion at the mine. He's serving one year of supervised release.