Senator Joseph Manchin III (D) is an American politician. He has been serving as a senior U.S. Senator from West Virginia under the Democrats since 2010. He was the state’s Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He also served as West Virginia’s state governor from 2005 to 2010.
Manchin was born in Farmington, West Virginia, on August 24, 1947. He graduated from Farmington High School. He subsequently won a football scholarship and enrolled at West Virginia University in 1965.
Unfortunately, a severe training injury cut his football career short. Later, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1970. After his graduation, he worked at his family’s store and later at a carpet store.
In 1988, Manchin founded Enersystems, a coal brokerage firm.
Senator Joe Manchin Career
Manchin started his political career in 1982.
He started with getting a seat at the West Virginia House of Delegates. He served for four years and ran for a seat at the State Senate in 1986. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate the same year and served till 1996.
In 1996, Manchin left the State Senate to run for the governorship. Unfortunately, he lost the Democratic primaries to Charlotte Pritt. Yet, he became the Secretary of State of West Virginia in 2000.
In 2003, Manchin announced his candidacy for the position of the state’s governor. He was looking to challenge Democratic incumbent Bob Wise. Bob Wise decided not to seek reelection after a scandal was leaked against him. As a result, Manchin won the Democratic primary and the general election in 2004 and served till 2010.
In 2010, incumbent Senator Robert Byrd died. Manchin announced his candidacy for the seat within a month. He won the Democratic primary and subsequently defeated John Raese in the general election.
After the end of Byrd’s term, Manchin ran for reelection and defeated Raese again. He was re-elected in 2018.
Senator Joe Manchin Accomplishments
Manchin is moderate to conservative. He is said to have promoted bipartisanship while pushing for the state and national economy. He is credited for creating jobs, cutting government spending, and improving national security.
Manchin’s administration has fostered the development of a balanced economic plan. He has worked to ensure the proper use of resources as well as promoting the use of renewable energy.
Manchin also worked towards infrastructure developments such as the $2.7 million North Central West Virginia Airport. He also pushed for reliable air service in the state.
Manchin is commended for his work in introducing the Disaster Recovery Funding Act. The bill aimed at facilitating the release of $16 billion for disaster relief funding. He has also announced $106 million relief funding for West Virginia in 2019
Senator Joe Manchin Criticisms
Senator Manchin has been criticized for receiving unethical campaign funding from Mylan, where his daughter Heather Bresch served as the president and CEO of the drugmaker.
Heather Bresch is still mired in an ongoing lawsuit for colluding with the CEO of Pfizer to keep prices of EpiPen artificially high. The EpiPen is considered a lifeline for patients suffering from a severe allergic reaction.
Besides that, Senator Manchin was also reported by Andrew Hall from Patheos.com to have been cheating on his wife for over a decade with sexual relationships with the Republican party.
Senator Joe Manchin is also said to have some serious conflict of interest on climate reforms. At the moment, the US’s policy on climate change largely lies in the hands of Manchin. But, the fact that he owns millions of dollars in coal stocks makes people wonder if why is he not recusing himself from US climate talks?