Joe Manchin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joe Manchin
Official portrait, 2017
United States Senator from West Virginia
Incumbent
Assumed office November 15, 2010 Serving with Shelley Moore Capito
Preceded by	Carte Goodwin
Chair of the Senate Energy Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office February 3, 2021
Preceded by	Lisa Murkowski
Ranking Member of the Senate Energy Committee
In office January 3, 2019 – February 3, 2021
Preceded by	Maria Cantwell
Succeeded by	John Barrasso
Chair of the National Governors Association
In office July 11, 2010 – November 15, 2010
Preceded by	Jim Douglas
Succeeded by	Christine Gregoire
34th Governor of West Virginia
In office January 17, 2005 – November 15, 2010
Lieutenant	Earl Ray Tomblin
Preceded by	Bob Wise
Succeeded by	Earl Ray Tomblin
27th Secretary of State of West Virginia
In office January 15, 2001 – January 17, 2005
Governor	Bob Wise
Preceded by	Ken Hechler
Succeeded by	Betty Ireland
Member of the West Virginia Senate
In office December 1, 1986 – December 1, 1996
Preceded by	Anthony Yanero
Succeeded by	Roman Prezioso
Constituency	14th district (1986–1992) 13th district (1992–1996)
Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from the 31st district
In office December 1, 1982 – December 1, 1986
Preceded by	Clyde See
Succeeded by	Duane Southern
Personal details
Born	Joseph Manchin III (1947-08-24) August 24, 1947 (age 76) Farmington, West Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Gayle Conelly ​ (m. 1967)​
Children	3, including Heather
Education	West Virginia University (BBA)
Signature

Joseph Manchin III (/ˈmæntʃɪn/ MAN-chin; born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. Manchin was the 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005. He became the state's senior U.S. senator when Jay Rockefeller left office in 2015 and has since been West Virginia's only congressional Democrat.

Early life and education

Joseph Manchin III was born on August 24, 1947, in Farmington, West Virginia, a small coal mining town. He is the second of five children of Mary O. (née Gouzd) and John Manchin. The name "Manchin" was derived from the Italian name "Mancina". His father was of Italian descent, and his paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from the town of San Giovanni in Fiore, in Calabria. Manchin's maternal grandparents were Czechoslovak immigrants.

Manchin's father owned a carpet and furniture store, and his grandfather, Joseph Manchin (Giuseppe Mancina), owned a grocery store. His father and his grandfather each served as mayor of Farmington. Manchin's uncle, A. James Manchin, was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and later served as West Virginia Secretary of State and Treasurer.

Manchin graduated from Farmington High School in 1965. He entered West Virginia University on a football scholarship in 1965, but an injury during practice ended his football career. Manchin graduated in 1970 with a degree in business administration and went to work for his family's business. Manchin has been a close friend of Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban since childhood.

Early political career

Before entering politics, Manchin helped found and was the president of Enersystems, a coal brokerage company his family owns and operates.

Manchin was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1982 at age 35 and in 1986 was elected to the West Virginia Senate, where he served until 1996. He ran for governor in 1996, losing the Democratic primary election to Charlotte Pritt. At that time, he supported the Republican candidate for governor, Cecil Underwood, who went on to win. Manchin was elected Secretary of State of West Virginia in 2000, defeating Libertarian candidate Poochie Myers, 89.4% to 10.6%.

Governor of West Virginia

Manchin greeting President George W. Bush in 2006

In 2003, Manchin announced his intention to challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Bob Wise in the 2004 Democratic primary. Wise decided not to seek reelection after a scandal, and Manchin won the Democratic primary and general election by large margins. His election marked the first time since 1964 that a West Virginia governor was succeeded by another governor from the same party.

Manchin speaks during the second day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, in his capacity as chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

In July 2005, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship sued Manchin, alleging that Manchin had violated Blankenship's First Amendment rights by threatening increased government scrutiny of his coal operations in retaliation for Blankenship's political activities. Blankenship had donated substantial funds into campaigns to defeat a proposed pension bond amendment and oppose the reelection of state Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw, and he fought against a proposed increase in the severance tax on extraction of mineral resources. Soon after the bond amendment's defeat, the state Division of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit approval for controversial new silos near Marsh Fork Elementary School in Raleigh County. While area residents had complained for some time that the coal operation there endangered their children, Blankenship claimed that the DEP acted in response to his opposition to the bond amendment.

During the Sago Mine disaster in early January 2006 in Upshur County, West Virginia, Manchin confirmed incorrect reports that 12 miners had survived; in actuality only one survived. Manchin later acknowledged that a miscommunication had occurred with rescue teams in the mine. On February 1, 2006, he ordered a stop to all coal production in West Virginia pending safety checks after two more miners were killed in separate accidents. Sixteen West Virginia coal miners died in mining accidents in early 2006.

Manchin easily won reelection to a second term as governor in 2008 against Republican Russ Weeks, capturing 69.81% of the vote and winning every county.

U.S. Senate

Manchin with Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Manchin won the 2010 special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by incumbent Democrat Robert Byrd's death with 53% of the vote, and in 2012 was elected to a full term with 61% of the vote. Manchin won a second term in 2018 with just under 50% of the vote.

Manchin has called himself a "centrist, moderate, conservative Democrat" and is generally deemed the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. He opposed President Barack Obama's energy policies, including reductions and restrictions on coal mining; voted against cloture for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (not voting on the bill itself); supported President Donald Trump's border wall and immigration policies; and voted to confirm most of Trump's cabinet and judicial appointees, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh. On the other hand, Manchin voted against repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials, voted against Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court, voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, and was a Senate sponsor of the Inflation Reduction Act. He is among the more non-interventionist members of the Democratic caucus, having repeatedly called for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and opposed most military interventions in Syria.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (chair)
  • As chair of the full committee, Manchin serves as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Cybersecurity
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Caucus membership

• Congressional Coalition on Adoption

Political positions

Education

In February 2019, Manchin said the collapse of an omnibus education reform proposal resulted from state lawmakers not laying the groundwork for broad support for the proposal. Manchin said, "You don't do major reform, policy changes, for the whole education system in a 60-day session without public hearings. There should have been a whole year of going out and speaking to the public." He stated his support for homeschooling and private schools as well as his opposition to funding "them with public dollars."

Energy and environment

President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden speak to a bipartisan group of governors about building a clean energy economy, February 2010

Manchin criticized President Barack Obama's environmental regulations as a "war on coal" and demanded what he called a proper balance between the needs of the environment and the coal business.

In June 2017, Manchin supported President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, saying he supported "a cleaner energy future" but that the Paris deal failed to strike "a balance between our environment and the economy."

In October 2021, The Guardian named Manchin one of the United States' top "climate villains", writing that he "uses his position to hold climate legislation hostage on behalf of the fossil fuel industry".

Federal budget

Manchin has co-sponsored balanced budget amendments put forth by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Mark Udall (D-CO). He has also voted against raising the federal debt ceiling.

Guns

Manchin partnered with Republican senator Pat Toomey to introduce a bill that would have strengthened background checks on gun sales. The Manchin-Toomey bill was defeated on April 17, 2013, by a vote of 54–46; 60 votes would have been required to pass it.

In a March 2018 interview, a month after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and shortly before the March For Our Lives demonstrations, Manchin stated that the Manchin-Toomey bill should serve as the base for a new gun control law.

Health care

In 2010, Manchin called for "repairs" of the Affordable Care Act and repeal of the "bad parts of Obamacare." On January 14, 2017, Manchin expressed concern at the strict party-line vote on repealing Obamacare and said he could not, in good conscience, vote to repeal without a new plan in place. He added, however, that he was willing to work with Trump and the GOP to formulate a replacement. In July 2017, he said that he was one of about ten senators from both parties who had been "working together behind the scenes" to formulate a new health-care program, but that there was otherwise insufficient bipartisanship on the issue.

In September 2017, Manchin released a statement expressing that he was skeptical of a single-payer health care system being "the right solution" while noting his support for the Senate considering "all of the options through regular order so that we can fully understand the impacts of these ideas on both our people and our economy."

In January 2019, Manchin was one of six Democratic senators to introduce the American Miners Act of 2019, a bill that would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to swap funds in excess of the amounts needed to meet existing obligations under the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the 1974 Pension Plan as part of an effort to prevent its insolvency as a result of coal company bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis. It also increased the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund tax and ensured that miners affected by the 2018 coal company bankruptcies would not lose their health care.

Immigration

Manchin is opposed to the DREAM Act, and was absent from a 2010 vote on the bill. He supports construction of a wall along the southern border of the United States. He opposed the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona over that state's immigration enforcement law. Manchin voted against the McCain-Coons proposal to create a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants without funding for a border wall and he voted against a comprehensive immigration bill proposed by Susan Collins which gave a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers as well as funding for border security.

Manchin voted to withhold funding for "sanctuary cities" and in support of President Trump's proposal to give a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, build a border wall, and reduce legal immigration. On June 18, 2018, he came out against the Trump administration family separation policy. In September 2019, Manchin was the only Democrat on the Senate Appropriations panel to vote for a $71 billion homeland security measure that granted Trump the $5 billion he had previously requested to build roughly 200 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Senior citizens

To help locate missing senior citizens, Manchin introduced the Silver Alert Act in July 2011 to create a nationwide network for locating missing adults and senior citizens modeled after the AMBER Alert. Manchin also sponsored the National Yellow Dot Act to create a voluntary program that would alert emergency services personnel responding to car accidents of the availability of personal and medical information on the car's owner.

Manchin said in 2014 that he "would change Social Security completely. I would do it on an inflationary basis, as far as paying into payroll taxes, and change that, to keep us stabilized as far as cash flow. I'd do COLAs—I'd talk about COLA for 250 percent of poverty guidelines." Asked whether this meant he would "cut benefits to old people," Manchin said that "a rich old person ... won't get the COLAs." He asked: "Do you want chained CPI? I can live with either one."

Economics

In 2018, Manchin was one of 17 Democrats to break with their party and vote with Republicans to ease the Dodd-Frank banking rules.

Manchin opposed Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He called it "a closed process" that "makes little impact in the paychecks of the people in his state." At the same time, he posited the bill contains "some good things ... Initially people will benefit," although ultimately voting against it. In turn, NRSC spokesman Bob Salera stated that he had "turned his back and voted with Washington Democrats."

Manchin opposed the January 2018 government shutdown. The New York Times suggested that he helped end the shutdown by threatening not to run for reelection unless his fellow Democrats ended it.

In March 2019, Manchin was a cosponsor of a bipartisan bill to undo a drafting error in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that mandated stores and restaurants to have to write off the costs of renovations over the course of 39 years via authorizing businesses to immediately deduct the entirety of costs of renovations.

On February 2, 2021, Manchin announced his opposition to an increase from $7.25 to $15 per hour in the federal minimum wage, but said he was open to a smaller increase, perhaps to $11, and higher for parts of the country with a higher cost of living, like Massachusetts, New York, and California. He also argued that the minimum wage should be index-linked, saying, "Once it gets above $11 it should be indexed, so it never becomes a political football again." Along with seven other Democrats, Manchin opposed a $15 minimum wage proposal by Bernie Sanders as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and forced Democrats to limit extended unemployment benefits in the same bill.

Veterans

In February 2017, Manchin and Roy Blunt introduced the HIRE Veterans Act, which establishes a tiered recognition program within the Department of Labor to award employers based on their contributions to veteran employment. The legislation passed in April 2017.

In January 2019, Manchin was one of five senators to cosponsor the VA Provider Accountability Act, a bipartisan bill meant to amend Title 38 of the United States Code to authorize the under secretary of health to report "major adverse personnel actions" related to certain health care employees at the National Practitioner Data Bank along with applicable state licensing boards.

In July 2019, Manchin and Republican Marsha Blackburn introduced the Providing Veterans Access to In-State Tuition Act, a bill that would remove a three-year post-discharge requirement and thereby enable student veterans eligibility to receive in-state tuition rates from public schools in the event they decide to use their Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.

In August 2019, Manchin and Capito announced a collection of grants that totaled to over $7 million intended to aid homeless veterans under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program.

Personal life

Manchin is a member of the National Rifle Association and a licensed pilot. He married Gayle Heather Conelly on August 5, 1967. Together they have three children: Heather Manchin Bresch, Joseph IV, and Brooke.

Manchin is Catholic.

In 2006 and 2010, Manchin delivered commencement addresses at Wheeling Jesuit University and at Davis & Elkins College, receiving honorary degrees from both institutions.

Manchin lives on a houseboat in the Potomac River when in Washington.

Electoral history

1982

1986

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

2010

2012

2018