It’s probably safe to say that Bo Copley never expected to run for U.S. Senate. A lifelong resident of Mingo County, West Virginia, Copley worked in the coal industry for 11 years until he was laid off on September 18, 2015. In May of 2016, Copley was invited to join a roundtable discussion with Hillary Clinton, who was campaigning in West Virginia before the state’s presidential primary. Copley, his voice breaking, showed Clinton a picture of his three children and challenged her assertion that she was a friend to coal miners. Copley’s raw emotion broke through the usual campaign chatter, and throughout the campaign, he was a regular on cable news.
Copley tried to take advantage of his surprise political celebrity by running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2018. But without money, experience, or traditional campaign infrastructure, he quickly discovered that being a politician is harder than it looks. Still, Copley fought hard not only to pull off a monumental upset but also to validate his own sense of self-worth after two years of unemployment. The Campaign of Miner Bo documents that fight and shows how this most unlikely political campaign changed its most unlikely candidate.
The Campaign of Miner Bo, directed by Todd Drezner, releases October 6 On Demand.
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