He served the full one year term of his sentence. Blankenship was a financial backer of the Republican party. He was paid $17.8 million in 2009 which made him the highest paid person in the coal industry for that year. He earned $19.7 million in 2008 and $6 million in 2007. In 2010 it was also revealed that Blankenship has a deferred compensation package that was worth $27 million. In 2018, Blankenship launched a campaign for US Senate. As part of his Senate race, Don produced a series of videos that were sharply critical of Mitch McConnell and featured extremely racist and derogatory false statements.
