Joe Manchin

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Joe Manchin (2012) signature

Joseph Anthony "Joe" Manchin III (born August 24, 1947 in Farmington , West Virginia ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party and is assigned to the moderate wing. Since November 15, 2010, he has been a member of the United States Senate as representative of West Virginia . From 2005 to 2010 he held the office of governor in this state .

Family, education and work

Joe Manchin is the son of Mary O. nee Gouzd and John Manchin and grew up in the coal-mining town of Farmington in Marion County (West Virginia) . The Manchin family is active in the county's economy and politics. His father was the son of Italian immigrants (originally Mancini ), his mother is the daughter of Czechoslovak immigrants. Manchin already worked in his grandfather's grocery store and in his father's furniture store while still at school.

Manchin graduated from high school in his hometown of Farmington in 1965 and began studying at West Virginia University that same year on a football scholarship . He had to give up his sports career because of a knee injury. Because a fire in 1968 destroyed his family's furniture business, he suspended the reconstruction work for a semester. He graduated from college in 1970 with a Bachelor of Business Administration and began working in the family business, including running a carpet shop. Later he founded the company Enersystems, Inc. , which in the area of coal mining and coal operates.

Joe Manchin and his wife, Gayle, whom he met in college and married on August 5, 1967, have two daughters and a son. She was the state's Secretary for the Arts .

Political career

Ascent

Manchin was elected to the West Virginia House of Representatives for the 31st constituency in 1982 and served in parliament for a four-year term. On November 4, 1986, he won an extraordinary by-election in the 14th constituency of the State Senate after the mandate holder James L. Davis had resigned in 1985. He sat in the Senate from December 1, 1986 and, after two re-elections (1988 and 1992) until 1996, and campaigned for reforms in social and health care, including at Medicaid . Even then it was considered business-friendly and was criticized by consumer advocates, but occasionally campaigned against sales by public companies such as hospitals. In the 1996 election , he ran for the first time for the office of governor after Gaston Caperton was no longer allowed to run due to term limits. However, Manchin narrowly lost in the party primary to Charlotte Pritt, who was supported as a left-wing candidate by the trade unions, while Manchin was supported as a conservative candidate by business associations, the NRA and pro-life groups. Pritt was defeated in the main election by Republican Cecil H. Underwood , who supported Manchin, which earned him continued criticism from his own party. He himself renounced in 2000 in favor of his fellow party member Bob Wise to run as governor again, and was instead elected Secretary of State of West Virginia. His uncle James Manchin held this position from 1977 to 1985 . He himself oriented the office in the direction of citizen service and fought against increasing voter abstinence.

West Virginia Governor

In 2004 Manchin ran again for the gubernatorial election and won by a large margin against the Republican Monty Warner. In addition to business associations, Manchin also supported numerous unions, which supported his main point of the program, he campaigned unideologically for the creation of jobs. Manchin became the first Catholic and first Italian-American to take office on January 17, 2005 . During his time as governor, among other things, the national debt was reduced and the workers' accident insurance was privatized, which earned him high approval ratings. At the beginning of 2006 there were several serious mine accidents in which a total of 16 miners were killed. On February 1, 2008, the governor ordered a temporary halt to all coal production in his country until all mines had been checked for safety (his uncle had died in a 1968 Farmington mine accident). In the gubernatorial election on November 4, 2008 , he prevailed with almost 70 percent of the vote against the Republican State Senator Russ Weeks for a second term. Manchin was highly popular in polls, was a member of numerous governors' associations and was president of the National Governors Association in 2010 . As governor, Manchin also took care of small matters, such as the punctuality of trains, which is why his style of government has been compared to that of a small town mayor.

First term as senator

After the death of Robert Byrd in late June 2010, who had been US Senator for West Virginia since 1959, it was up to Manchin to appoint a successor. He opted for the 36-year-old lawyer Carte Goodwin , who was only to take Byrd's place until a by-election. Since the governor could not run for office again due to the constitutional provisions, there was immediate speculation that Manchin himself was interested in the Senate seat; Manchin announced its candidacy for the November by-election on July 20, 2010 . In the primary election of his party, he prevailed against the then 95-year-old Ken Hechler , who was on the left and stood in protest against the mountaintop removal mining that was widespread in West Virginia . Manchin faced Republican John Raese in the main election , a businessman who had previously lost one election to both Robert Byrd and West Virginia's second senator, Jay Rockefeller . Although Manchin was considered very popular in his state, the polls at times indicated a close outcome. He won comparatively clearly with 54 percent of the votes.

Manchin took up his mandate as senator on November 15, 2010. Immediately beforehand, his previous lieutenant governor in West Virginia, Earl Ray Tomblin , had been sworn in as the new governor. Manchin is a member of the Senate on federal funding , intelligence , veterans, and energy and natural resources committees .

In the regular Senate election in 2012 , Manchin ran for a full term for the first time. He met the Republican Raese in the main election and beat him with 61 percent of the vote and 24 percentage points ahead, while at the same time Barack Obama lost the state in the presidential election with 27 percentage points behind. After Manchin repeatedly voiced his dissatisfaction with the mutual partisan blockade in the Senate, he considered leaving Washington in 2015 and reapplying for his previous office in the 2016 gubernatorial election . After the state of West Virginia, which used to be a reliable democratic elector, has increasingly turned towards a republican stronghold since 2000 and Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election by 42 percentage points over Hillary Clinton - his second-best result in any state - Manchin was born one of the last remaining high-ranking Democratic politicians in the state. The Republicans believed they had a good chance of taking over his Senate seat in 2018.

Second term as senator

After long hesitation, Manchin announced on January 23, 2018, a few days before the deadline for submission, that he was running for the Senate mandate in the November 2018 election . In the Democratic primary, Manchin prevailed with 70 to 30 percent of the vote against the left-wing environmental activist Paula Jean Swearengin, supported by Bernie Sanders . Manchin was supported by trade unions as well as business associations.

In the Republican primary on May 8, 2018, the previous Attorney General West Virginia, Patrick Morrisey , Congressman Evan Jenkins and the former coal entrepreneur Don Blankenship , who died in 2015 with 29 deaths due to non-compliance with safety precautions and a mine accident that resulted from it, ran for one year was in custody for a long time. Morrissey prevailed and ran against Manchin in the main election in November 2018. The political website Sabato's Crystal Ball classified the race for the Senate seat as completely open (“toss up”) after the pre-election result. The Democrats had campaigned mainly against Jenkins; Morrisey, who ran for Congress in New Jersey in the 2000 election and worked as a lobbyist in Washington, was considered the weaker candidate. After his defeat, Blankenship announced that he would ensure that Morrisey would not become a senator and that the “corrupt carpetbagger ” would not “take the Republican Party hostage” - he announced that he would support a splinter party himself in the Senate election ( Constitution Party ).

According to a survey in the first quarter of 2018, the long-standing great satisfaction of many voters with Manchin fell by 17 percentage points to 43 percent approval (compared to 44 percent rejection) after President Trump, although personally friends with the Senator, spoke out against Manchin's re-election. After improving the polls in July 2018, observers saw Manchin again as a slight favorite. In the elections on November 6, 2018, Manchin emerged victorious with 49.5 percent of the votes cast.

In January 2019, media reported that Manchin was considering running again for governor of West Virginia in 2020.

During his tenure as a Senator, Manchin received nearly $ 1.8 million from family-owned Enersystems Inc.

After the 2020 Senate election, the Senate was made up of 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, with the Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris having the decisive vote in the event of a tie. Some people were given a relevant position in this situation because they are a Democrat but represent one of the most conservative states in the USA. Donald Trump received his second-best result of any state in West Virginia in 2020. Manchin's role received considerable media attention , especially with regard to the planned economic stimulus package by the Biden administration and the discussed abolition of the filibuster in the Senate.

In President Biden's first year in office, Manchin refused to support him on crucial issues. He was one of seven Democratic US Senators who, together with the Republicans, blocked a ban on hydraulic fracturing in February 2021, a few weeks after Joe Biden's inauguration . After that, Manchin's planned introduction of a nationwide minimum wage of US $ 15 failed, and in December he became the only Democratic senator to reject the government’s most important project, a US $ 1.75 trillion social and economic stimulus program. The pharmaceutical lobby, from which Manchin is financially supported, had opposed the proposed law.

Positions

Manchin is seen as a centrist politician who often votes with the MPs of the Republican Party and is therefore criticized by leftists within the Democrats. Immediately after Manchin's election to the US Senate in 2010, rumors had spread that he was planning a move to the Republican Party; his blatant criticism of President Barack Obama had also contributed to this. However, Manchin had a spokesman explain that he was a lifelong member of the Democrats and that there would be no change of party. Before the 2012 presidential election , he left it open whether he would vote for Obama or the Republican candidate Mitt Romney , and in 2012 showed the largest deviation of all Democratic senators from Obama in terms of voting behavior with around 15 percent. Some people criticized Obama in particular for his energy policy - which was widely viewed as harmful in coal-rich West Virginia - and Harry Reid , who was chairman of the Democratic group in the US Senate at the time , for the standstill in legislative work. After the Republicans won a majority in the Senate in 2014 , they again campaigned for Manchin in vain.

Manchin is particularly conservative in terms of social policy. To the end, he campaigned against the recognition of same-sex marriage and voted against the repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell directive for the US armed forces . Contrary to the party line, he has always campaigned against abortion ( Pro-Life ). In 2010 Manchin received the support of the usually Republican inclined United States Chamber of Commerce . In the 2010 and 2012 elections, Manchin was also supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA); they gave him the top grade A . After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School , Manchin and Republican Senator Pat Toomey introduced a legislative initiative in early 2013 that called for background checks on weapons purchases. The NRA then attacked him in commercials and tried to intimidate him. After the proposed law failed, the NRA ended its financial support for Manchin. In the 2018 Senate election campaign, the NRA left it open as to whether it would recommend him.

Manchin has met with Donald Trump several times since 2016 and was in talks for the cabinet after his election victory in 2016 . He praised Trump's protectionist policies and voted for most of Trump's personnel proposals that had to be confirmed in the Senate, including politically controversial people such as Supreme Court judge Neil Gorsuch and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo . According to FiveThirtyEight , Manchin voted in over 60 percent of Senate decisions with the Republican President (as of April 2018). According to the majority of residents of West Virginia and against the party line, Manchin decided after long hesitation in October 2018 to support the Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh , who was nominated by President Trump and controversial for unproven harassment allegations, in his Senate confirmation, which outraged his own supporters.

After the Democrats won the Georgia by-elections and also won a majority in the Senate, many left-wing parties called for the obstruction of the obstructive filibuster process to be abolished . It enables the opposition party in the Senate to delay or stop the vote on legislative proposals by means of permanent speeches. Some people spoke out in favor of maintaining filibustering.

On December 19, 2021, Manchin announced that he would not approve Biden's billion dollar "Build-Back-Better" legislative package, even though it had previously been cut by more than half to win his approval and that of his Senate colleague Kyrsten Sinema . Due to the stalemate in the Senate, their votes would have been necessary for the adoption of the extensive social and climate package, which was the most important project of the President in his first year in office. Some people justified their rejection with more pressing problems such as the corona pandemic and rising inflation , which should be resolved as a matter of urgency . The programs also included climate action, which Manchin is fighting, as the coal industry continues to play a major role in his home state of West Virginia.

Web links

Commons : Joe Manchin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frauke Steffens, New York: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema: The Biden Blocker . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed December 20, 2021]).
  2. ↑ a b Danielle Burton: 10 Things You Didn't Know About West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. In: US News , August 1, 2008
  3. ↑ Senate Concurrent Resolution 34. In: West Virginia Legislature , March 10, 2017 (naming a building after Manchin with a short life cycle); Jim Wallace: Joe Manchin. In: The West Virginia Encyclopedia , May 16, 2016. For his paternal ancestors from San Giovanni in Fiore , Calabria , see Il governatore del West Virginia tra i suoi compaesi di San Giovanni in Fiore. In: Il Crotonese , May 2, 2006.
  4. ↑ The Intercept : Joe Manchin's Dirty Empire , September 3, 2021, loaded October 26, 2021
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Jim Wallace: Joe Manchin. In: The West Virginia Encyclopedia , May 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b c Hoppy Kercheval: Manchin considering running for Governor ... again. In: Metro News , January 11, 2019.
  7. ^ WV State Senate 14 B - Special Election. In: OurCampaigns.com
  8. ^ Davis, James L. (b.1914). In: PoliticalGraveyard.com.
  9. ^ A b c Michael Kruse, Burgess Everett: Manchin in the Middle. In: Politico , March / April 2017 (English).
  10. ↑ Pamela M. Prah: Are underground miners adequately protected? In: CQ Researcher. Volume 16, March 17, 2006, No. 11; Beyond Sago: One by One. In: The Charleston Gazette-Mail , November 5, 2006.
  11. ^ NGA Chair 2010. In: OurCampaigns.com.
  12. ↑ Shira Toeplitz: Manchin gets veteran Dem challenger. In: Politico , July 21, 2010.
  13. ↑ Sen. Joe Manchin III. In: Govtrack.us.
  14. ^ Statewide Results: General Election. In: SOS.wv.gov , November 6, 2012.
  15. ↑ Kyle Cheney: Manchin won't run for West Virginia governor. In: Politico , April 19, 2015.
  16. ↑ Jonathan Martin: Manchin Will Seek Re-election but Sends Democrats a Stern Warning. In: The New York Times , January 23, 2018.
  17. ^ Clare Foran: West Virginia's Conservative Democrat Gets a Primary Challenger. In: The Atlantic , May 9, 2017
  18. ^ West Virginia Primary Election Results. In: The New York Times , May 9, 2018
  19. ^ The Protest Vote in West Virginia's Democratic Primary for Senate. In: MCI Maps , May 10, 2018.
  20. ↑ Fred Lucas: Dem Joe Manchin suffers biggest plummet in job approval of any senator: poll. In: Fox News , April 13, 2018.
  21. ↑ Alex Isenstadt: Blankenship surging on eve of West Virginia Senate primary. In: Politico , May 5, 2018.
  22. ↑ Steven Shepard, Alex Isenstadt: Blankenship suffers beatdown in West Virginia. In: Politico , May 9, 2018.
  23. ↑ Kyle Kondik, Geoffrey Skelley: Ratings Changes: Senate, Governor, House. In: Sabato's Crystal Ball , University of Virginia Center for Politics, May 9, 2018.
  24. ↑ Steven Shepard, Elena Schneider, Scott Bland: Top takeaways from the first big primary of 2018. In: Politico , May 9, 2018
  25. ↑ Jordain Carney: Blankenship wants to 'make sure' Morrisey doesn't win Senate bid. In: The Hill , May 10, 2018
  26. ↑ Alex Isenstadt: Blankenship to wage third-party bid after losing primary. In: Politico , May 21, 2018.
  27. ↑ Jake Zuckerman: Poll: Manchin's approval rating dropped 17 points last quarter. In: The West Virginia Gazette , April 12, 2018.
  28. ↑ Geoffrey Skelley: Mountain State Manchin-Ations. In: Sabato's Crystal Ball , July 24, 2018
  29. ^ Sean Trende: Assessing Manchin's Chances in West Virginia. In: RealClearPolitics , July 31, 2018.
  30. ↑ Manuel Quinones, ELANA SCHOR of Greenwire: Sen. Manchin Maintains Lucrative Ties to Family-Owned Coal Company. Retrieved May 1, 2019 .
  31. ↑ West Virginia presidential election results 2020: Live results and polls. Retrieved March 4, 2021 .
  32. ↑ Subscribe to read | Financial Times. Retrieved March 4, 2021 .
  33. ↑ 'Because Joe Manchin runs the Senate': Jake Sherman explains why Democrats narrowed the income threshold. Accessed March 4, 2021 .
  34. ^ US Senate: US Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 1st Session. In: www.senate.gov. Retrieved March 19, 2021 .
  35. ↑ He drives Joe Biden in front of him. In: The time. Retrieved March 19, 2021 .
  36. ↑ Joe Manchin: The Democrat Who Could Become a Problem for Joe Biden. March 13, 2021, accessed March 19, 2021 .
  37. ↑ Social package rejected: Manchin duped Biden. December 20, 2021, accessed December 20, 2021 .
  38. ↑ Patricia Murphy: Joe Manchin Is Not Switching Parties, Democrat's Spokeman Says. In: The Capitolist , November 9, 2010 (English).
  39. ↑ The Senator Doesn't Know If He Will Vote For Obama. In: CBS News , April 20, 2012
  40. ↑ Catalina Camia: Manchin top Democrat to oppose Obama in 2012. In: USA Today , January 22, 2013.
  41. ↑ Ed O'Keefe: Joe Manchin on election results: 'This is a real ass-whuppin'. In: The Washington Post , November 5, 2014.
  42. ↑ Alexander Bolton: McConnell expected to woo King, Manchin. In: The Hill , November 5, 2014.
  43. ^ Harry J. Enten: The final three: the Democratic senators against gay marriage. In: The Guardian , April 10, 2013.
  44. ↑ Katrina Trinko: NRA Endorses Manchin in West Virginia. In: National Review , September 24, 2010; NRA-PVF Endorses Joe Manchin for US Senate in West Virginia. In: NRA Polictical Victory Fund , October 2, 2012.
  45. ↑ Amanda Terkel: Joe Manchin Targeted By NRA In New Ad. In: The Huffington Post , June 17, 2013.
  46. ↑ Eric Garcia: Manchin Might Be Without Powerful Ally in Re-Election Bid. In: Roll Call , January 26, 2018.
  47. ↑ Chris Dickerson: Manchin becomes first Democrat to say he'll vote for Gorsuch. In: The West Virginia Record , March 30, 2017
  48. ^ Wilson Andrews, How Each Senator Voted on Trump's Cabinet and Administration Nominees. In: The New York Times , May 11, 2017; Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump: Joe Manchin III. In: FiveThirtyEight .
  49. ↑ Alexander Bolton: Manchin says he will vote for Kavanaugh. In: The Hill , October 5, 2018
  50. ↑ Sheryl Gay Stolberg: Senate Confirms Kavanaugh to Supreme Court, Ending a Clash With Lasting Fallout. In: The New York Times , October 6, 2018
  51. ↑ Steve Peoples: Manchin faces firestorm at home following Kavanaugh vote. In: Associated Press , October 7, 2018.
  52. ^ Senate Democrats who supported the filibuster now oppose it. Retrieved September 24, 2021 (German).
  53. ↑ Joe Manchin: The Democrat Who Could Become a Problem for Joe Biden. March 13, 2021, accessed September 24, 2021 .
  54. ↑ WORLD: Joe Biden's prestige climate package before the end . In: THE WORLD . December 20, 2021 ( welt.de [accessed December 20, 2021]).
  55. ↑ Echo Newspapers GmbH: High inflation rate puts Biden under pressure. December 19, 2021, accessed December 20, 2021 .
  56. ↑ Social package rejected: Manchin duped Biden. December 20, 2021, accessed December 20, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Manchin, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Manchin, Joseph Anthony III (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
BIRTH DATE August 24, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Farmington , West Virginia