There’s a meme circulating about Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. It shows a futuristic city of sparkling skyscrapers and flying cars and a caption that says something like, “West Virginia after Manchin used all the advantage he had at the next Congress.”
In other words, people expect Manchin, one of the most conservative Democrats in the federal government, to exercise power like never before, thanks to the 50-50 split in the Senate left by the Democrats’ double victory in Georgia’s runoff races.
Manchin, a three-term senator and former governor of West Virginia, is the best known of a group of moderate Republicans and Democrats who can decide whether to slow down legislation or pave the way for it to become law.
“There will be an important role for him to play as a moderate to conservative Democrat, regardless of who won control of the Senate,” said Nick Rahall, a former Democratic congressman from West Virginia.
Democrats have the smallest majority in the Senate. The split is that Democrats control 50 seats and Republicans 50, which means that when Kamala Harris becomes vice president and his replacement, Alex Padilla of California, takes office as senator, Harris will have the tiebreaker vote.
That small majority cannot go that far, however. Lawmakers need 60 votes for all legislation, except for reconciliation projects, which are annual and are intended only for taxes and expenses. But all nominations for the Senate go strictly by majority vote.
Still, Manchin’s reputation for being the most right-leaning Democrat possible means that his support or opposition can provide cover for other lawmakers who may also want to influence Biden’s agenda. Manchin also maintains public friendships across the political spectrum. At a time when bipartisanship is rare, Manchin endorsed Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, before her re-election campaign. Collins then beat his Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, in one turn.
Manchin is part of a dying race of Democrats in West Virginia. He is the only democrat elected in the entire state in the increasingly conservative red state. A Democratic presidential candidate has not won the state in more than two decades and Donald Trump has beaten Joe Biden by almost 40% of the vote.
Manchin’s roots in West Virginia are deep. He grew up in the coal country, one of five children and grew up in state politics first through the home of West Virginia delegates, then in the state senate, then in the secretary of state’s office, then in the governor’s mansion and then in the Senate.
Nick Casey, former chief of staff to West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, said Manchin’s political career was characterized by making decisions based on “what he thought was in the absolute interest of the people of West Virginia or the people of Virginia. West and the people of the United States ”.
“He was always responsible, moderate and I don’t think he has any ideological orientation,” said Casey.
Manchin is the perfect example of a red state politician who calls himself a different type of Democrat in a party where the progressive wing can generate attractive headlines.
In 2010, Manchin ran a campaign ad in which he literally photographed the text of a limit and trade bill while promising to oppose certain parts of the then President Barack Obama’s Obamacare bill. In a sign of the importance of the historic health bill he became to every corner of the Democratic Party in 2018, during his second regular Senate re-election campaign, the West Virginia senator this time opened an anti-Obamacare suit.
More recently, Manchin has reinforced his trademark of conservative Democratic identity, maintaining some leeway in stimulus checks of $ 2,000 for Americans earning $ 75,000 or less. Manchin’s obscurity spurred Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York liberal congresswoman, to create a political action committee to accept checks for $ 2,000.
“Pac – No Excuses Pac – aims to defend Joe Biden’s Democratic agenda, the Build Back Better plan, from the outskirts of the Democratic party like Joe Manchin,” said Corbin Trent, the co-founder of Pac. “Make no mistake, he is the periphery of the Democratic Party.”
Another potential critical point for Manchin in the coming months concerns the Senate committee on energy and natural resources, where Manchin is the ranking member and is about to become president when Democrats regain a majority in the Senate.
Even with a Democratic president prioritizing climate change, Manchin is about to split up with other members of his party over the climate crisis and the gas industry. In a headline, Inside Climate News wrote about Manchin “The new Senate climate scorer was the Democrats’ most favorable senator for fossil fuels.”
Manchin is one of a handful of centrist senators from both parties who are expected to occupy a prominent place during major political debates in the coming years: Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rev. Rafael Warnock of Georgia, Angus King and Susan Collins from Maine, Jon Tester from Montana and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska.
“I think Joe Manchin will have an influence on critical decisions, but I think it will be a group of moderates who will talk regularly,” said former Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana. “The fact that Susan Collins is a Republican and Joe Manchin is a Democrat are partisan titles. It does not reflect in any way the relations that have developed in the Senate over the years. People like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema – others who are quite moderate in their views – have developed true friendships. “