There’s a meme about senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. It shows a futuristic city of shiny skyscrapers and flying cars and an accompanying caption that reads, “West Virginia, after Manchin used all the leverage in 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 that saw the Democrats’ double victory in the run-offs in Georgia. left it.
Manchin, a three-term senator and former governor of West Virginia, is best known for a set of moderate Republicans and Democrats who may decide to delay legislation to a crawl or open a way to become law.
“There’s going to be an important role for him as a moderate to conservative Democrat, regardless of who won control of the Senate,” said Nick Rahall, a former West Virginia Democratic congressman.
Democrats have the smallest majority in the Senate. The gap is that Democrats control 50 seats and Republicans 50 seats, which means that when Kamala Harris becomes vice president and her replacement, Alex Padilla of California, is sworn in as senator, Harris will be the vote.
However, the slim majority can go just as far. Legislators need 60 votes for all legislation, except for conciliation bills, which are annual and intended only for tax and spending bills. But all nominations before the Senate go strictly on a majority vote.
Manchin’s reputation for currently being as democratic a judge as possible means his support or opposition can provide coverage to other lawmakers who want to influence Biden’s agenda. Manchin also maintains public friendships across the political spectrum. At a time when bipartisanship is rare, Manchin Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, endorses her re-election campaign. Collins then struck her Democratic challenger, Sara Gideon, in dismay.
Manchin is part of a dying race of Democrats from West Virginia. He is the only nationwide elected Democrat in the increasingly conservative red state. A Democratic presidential candidate has not won the state in more than two decades and Donald Trump beat Joe Biden there by nearly 40% of the vote.
Manchin’s roots in West Virginia are deep. He grew up in the coal country, one of five children, and rose through state politics through the West Virginia House of Representatives, then the State Senate, then the Secretary of State, then the governor’s mansion, then the Senate.
Nick Casey, a former chief of staff of the governor of West Virginia, Jim Justice, said Manchin’s political career was marked by decisions based on ‘what he thought was in the absolute interest of the people of West Virginia or the people of West Virginia were. and the people of the United States ”.
“He’s always been responsible, moderate and I don’t think ideologically at all,” Casey said.
Manchin is the perfect example of a red state politician who presents himself as a different kind of democrat in a party where the progressive wing can often generate striking headlines.
In 2010, Manchin aired a campaign ad in which he literally shot the text of a cap-and-trade bill while promising to oppose certain parts of then-President Barack Obama’s Obamacare bill. In a sign of how important the health care bill became for all corners of the Democratic Party in 2018, during its second regular Senate re-election campaign, the West Virginia senator this time filed a lawsuit against Obamacare.
More recently, Manchin has bolstered its brand-conservative Democratic identity by holding some wiggle room on $ 2,000 stimulus checks to Americans earning $ 75,000 or less. The darkness of Manchin prompted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the liberal congresswoman of New York, to set up a political action committee to accept $ 2,000 checks.
“The Pac – No Excuses Pac – is meant to defend the Democratic agenda of Joe Biden, the Build Back Better Plan, from the fringes of the Democratic Party like Joe Manchin,” said Corbin Trent, co-founder of the Pac. . “Make no mistake, he is the edge of the Democratic Party.”
Another possible flash point for Manchin in the coming months concerns the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, where Manchin is the rank member and ready to become chairman when the Democrats regain the Senate majority.
Even with a Democratic president favoring climate change, Manchin is ready to part ways with other members of his party over the climate crisis and the gas industry. In a headline Inside Climate News, he wrote of Manchin ‘The Senate’s new point man on climate was the Democrats’ most fossil fuel-friendly senator’.
Manchin is one of a handful of centrist senators from both parties who are expected to be central during major policy debates over the next few years: Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rev. Rafael Warnock of Georgia, Angus King and Susan Collins of Maine. , Jon Tester of Montana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
“I think Joe Manchin will be part of influencing critical decisions, but I think it will be a group of moderates who talk to each other regularly,” said former Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly. ‘The fact that Susan Collins is a Republican and Joe Manchin is a Democrat, those are party titles. It in no way reflects the relationships that have developed in the Senate over the years. People like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Cinema – other people who are quite moderate in her view – have developed true friendships. ”