Joe Manchin

Joseph Anthony Manchin III (MAN-chin; born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman from West Virginia. Manchin served from 2001 to 2005 as the 27th Secretary of State of West Virginia, from 2005 to 2010 as the 34th Governor of West Virginia, and from 2010 to 2025 as a United States Senator from West Virginia. Manchin was a Democrat throughout his political career until he became an independent in 2024. Before entering politics, Manchin co-founded and served as president of Enersystems, his family-owned and operated coal brokerage company. After serving as West Virginia's secretary of state, he was elected governor of West Virginia in 2004 by a large margin and reelected by an even larger margin in 2008. Manchin was first elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2010 special election after the death of Democratic Senator Robert Byrd. Manchin won a full Senate term in 2012 and was re-elected in 2018. Representing a state that shifted sharply to the right throughout his political career, Manchin was generally regarded as the Senate Democratic Caucus's most conservative member and as a centrist, bipartisan figure. After the 2020 U.S. Senate elections, the Senate was left evenly split 50–50 between Democrats and Republicans. With Democrats holding control through the vice president's tiebreaking vote, Manchin emerged as a pivotal swing vote in this closely split chamber. In 2023, he announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2024. He was succeeded by Jim Justice, a Republican. In 2024, Manchin left the Democratic Party to become an independent; later he founded the Independent Leadership Council in 2026.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0