Key Points• Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT) are outliers in Congress — no other Senate or House member holds a state/district that is more hostile to his or her party at the presidential level than this pair.• Montana and especially West Virginia are deeply Republican at the […] Read more »
Manchin, Sinema and 2024
By helping Democrats pass a landmark $750 billion climate, tax and health care bill, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have complicated their own re-election fortunes for 2024. Why it matters: While Democrats have a credible chance to hold onto a narrow Senate majority this […] Read more »
How West Virginia became a Covid-19 disaster
… West Virginia had been a success story for vaccinations. Back in early March, West Virginia ranked in the top four in terms of the adult population that was vaccinated. The state and Gov. Jim Justice received widespread praise for its vaccine rollout. But now, West Virginia ranks last in […] Read more »
Joe Manchin is trying to outrun a realignment
… If Manchin acted and voted like a garden-variety Democratic senator, Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) could enact much of Biden’s agenda. But Manchin won’t permit that — and the reason turns on home-state politics. Unlike almost all other Senate Democrats, he’s trying to outrun a decades-long realignment in […] Read more »
Democrats’ Double Standard
Many Democrats are apoplectic these days with Sen. Joe Manchin—and plenty annoyed with several other Senate Democrats, albeit less vocally. The West Virginian, in his 20th year in statewide office and now in his 11th in the Senate, has the audacity to believe he knows his state better than certain […] Read more »
How Joe Manchin speaks for a lot of Americans
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is increasingly drawing the ire of progressive Democrats. With the slimmest of majorities in the Senate, Democrats need every vote and Manchin’s unwillingness to bend on issues such as filibuster reform is getting in the way of the party’s legislative priorities. But as I noted […] Read more »