- Are you enjoying your position of power
maybe a little too much?
- I sure hope not, oh my goodness.
That would be horrible.
That's not, no.
- [PJ] That's Joe Manchin,
a Democratic senator from West Virginia.
He's the swing vote in a 50-50 Senate
and a guy who has made a home for himself
smack in the middle of a hyper-partisan Venn diagram.
And also on a houseboat.
Year after year, Manchin, the Democrat,
gets re-elected to serve his constituents
in reliable red West Virginia.
But lately the gap has been narrowing
and the D next to his name could soon spell the end.
But for now, he seems to hold all the power in America
and he's not afraid to wield it.
I'm PJ Evans, and this is the story of Joe Manchin.
- I'm Manchin and I approve this message
because for me, it's all about West Virginia.
(gun firing)
- [PJ] He was born in 1947
in the small mining town of Farmington, West Virginia.
He went to college at West Virginia University
on a football scholarship, where he played quarterback,
but his career was cut short by an injury.
After college, Manchin worked at his family's grocery store,
where his work across the aisles all began.
- We grew up in the retail business.
I've always said in politics, it's retail.
This is retail politics.
And retail politics is simply knowing who your customer is
and making sure they're satisfied.
- [PJ] Manchin comes from a prominent political family.
His uncle, A. James Manchin, was a flashy state politician
who has been credited with helping JFK
win the state of West Virginia
in the 1960 presidential election.
- My uncle A. James Manchin
had the honor of introducing Senator Kennedy
when he traveled to West Virginia
during his presidential campaign.
- [PJ] From 1928 all the way to 2000,
the state of West Virginia
only voted for a Republican for president five times.
It was a deep-blue Democratic stronghold.
But the tide has changed.
Today, the overall population is aging,
as young people are leaving in search of jobs,
opioids have a grip on the state,
which has the second-highest rate of drug abuse in the U.S.,
and the coal industry has completely collapsed,
despite Trump's promise to bring it back.
- Yeah, I'll put it on, right?
(crowd cheering)
- [Patrick] In a way, you can think of West Virginia
as sort of the last southern state.
- [PJ] Patrick Hickey, a former professor
at the University of West Virginia
and an expert on Congress and the presidency, told us-
- [Patrick] So, that's a sentiment I hear a lot is,
"Democrats ran this place for decades.
"They didn't do anything to help us.
"It's time to try something else."
- [PJ] Hickey believes that sentiment,
compounded with the idea of a war on coal, are key drivers
to the political sea change in West Virginia.
- [Patrick] I think coal in West Virginia really is,
it's a symbol for the previous way of life.
People often ask me, "Do West Virginians really think
"coal's actually gonna come back,"
and I think the answer to that is no.
I think West Virginians realize
that coal probably isn't gonna boom back,
but they want what coal represented,
which was you could do an honest day's work
for an honest day's pay.
- In West Virginia, our people are proud
to give a good day's work for a good day's pay.
- [PJ] The war on coal has been largely blamed
on the Democrats and namely Obama
for environment regulations.
While coal jobs did in fact decline under Obama,
they had been declining for decades, since the 1920s;
you know, famously before Obama took office.
Experts claim that cheap abundant gas retrieved via fracking
paired with the advancement of renewables
have been greater causes of coal's demise
than any green regulations.
But regardless, since 2000, the state has consistently
and overwhelmingly voted to elect Republican presidents.
So, how is Joe Manchin, the Democrat, hanging on?
Manchin's rise to power started in 1982
when he was elected to West Virginia's House Delegates.
Four years later, he was elected to the State Senate.
And in 1996, he ran for governor, but lost the primary.
- Why did you lose?
What do you learn from that? - I didn't do a good job.
I don't think I did a good enough job explaining who I was
and what I thought the state could be
and how we were gonna change the state.
- [PJ] In 2001, Manchin was elected
secretary of state in West Virginia,
and four years later he finally became governor.
Politico notes Manchin was, "A tax-cutting,
"anti-abortion, pro-gun Democrat."
He also supported a livable wage, at the time, at least.
- As governor, I will not spend one dollar of your taxes
trying to attract a job that's a minimum wage job
of $6 and $7 with no benefits.
I think we've done that for far too long.
We've gotta make sure that, first of all,
we retain what we have
and make sure that those people are paying a livable wage
with healthcare and benefits.
Any job we attract that should fit in West Virginia
must be a livable wage with healthcare.
- [PJ] In 2010, Manchin was elected to the Senate,
where he's been serving the American people ever since,
mostly from his houseboat, Almost Heaven,
anchored eight miles south of the Capitol.
"You buy something permanent, they think you like the place,
"and I sure as hell don't like the place."
During Obama's presidency, Manchin was careful
to not tie himself too closely to the president,
who lost overwhelmingly in the Mountain State.
- As your senator, I'll protect our Second Amendment rights.
That's why the NRA endorsed me.
I'll cut federal spending
and I'll repeal the bad parts of Obamacare.
I sued EPA, and I'll take dead aim
(gun firing) at the cap-and-trade bill
because it's bad for West Virginia.
- [PJ] In addition to shooting Obama's cap-and-trade bill,
Manchin ended up voting with the Senate Democratic Caucus
only 72.8% of the time,
which was the lowest of any sitting Democrat.
Voting against Obama's agenda in key instances
paired with challenges from weak opponents
gave Manchin the edge back home
when it came to his re-election.
In 2012, Manchin won overwhelmingly, by 24 points.
But then came Manchin's re-election bid in 2018.
Just two years prior in the presidential election,
Trump had taken West Virginia by a landslide,
67.9% to Hillary's 26.2%,
and it was clear the state's politics were rapidly shifting.
But once again, Manchin, the Democrat,
hung on to reclaim his seat
by a little over three percentage points.
As perplexing as it is to edge out a Republican
who had Trump's endorsement in a Republican stronghold,
there's a simple explanation.
Patrick Hickey told us-
- [Patrick] He does take traditionally Democratic positions
most of the time, maybe 80% of the time,
but that 20% he doesn't, I think, is really strategic.
- [PJ] For example, during Trump's presidency,
Manchin voted for Trump's agenda
more than any other Democrat.
But at the same time,
Manchin voted against Trump's tax cuts.
He didn't side with Republicans
to repeal and replace Obamacare.
He didn't confirm Betsy DeVos.
But in the end, one month before his re-election,
Manchin was the lone Democrat
to vote for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Patrick Hickey told us again-
- [Patrick] I think if Joe Manchin
voted against confirming Brett Kavanaugh,
we'd be talking about Senator Morrisey, not Senator Manchin.
- And I stand up and I support him
when it's good for West Virginia.
And when it's not, I stand up to him,
and I think that's what it takes.
- [PJ] Manchin's success can also be attributed
to his opposition to ideas
from the progressive wing of his party.
He doesn't support Medicare for All.
He doesn't believe in packing the Supreme Court.
And when it comes to defunding the police,
Manchin, 73 years old, said, "Defund my butt."
Strategy is what defines Manchin,
and his has earned him a unique
and broad coalition of support,
from centrists on both sides,
conservatives and staunch Trump supporters,
and liberals and leftists who have no other option
but to bite their tongue and cast their ballot
for the lesser of two evils.
When Democrats took control of the White House,
Senate, and once again House,
Manchin's centrism took center stage.
When Biden's $1.9-trillion relief package was introduced,
Manchin had his way with it.
Although the Senate parliamentarian,
who apparently has more power than the president,
advised against including the $15 minimum wage,
it was Manchin's opposition
to including the provision in the bill
that doomed it from the start.
Legal documents show Manchin has financial stakes
in companies that pay less than $15 an hour,
so we can chop this up to a conflict of interest.
He did support a smaller increase, though.
- Joe Biden has said anybody that goes to work,
and I believe this with all my heart,
if you go to work every day,
you should at the end of the day
be above the minimum guidelines
as far as poverty guidelines.
You should be above that.
That should be the absolute low base.
Well, when you do it and you figure the numbers, Chuck,
it comes out to $11.
That's how I got to $11.
- [PJ] The Charleston Gazette notes,
"At $11 an hour, a worker would bring in $22,000 a year,
"just above the federal government's poverty threshold
"for a family of three.
"Manchin favors phasing in that wage
"starting at the end of next year until 2024.
"After that, the minimum wage would be indexed,
increasing with inflation rather than by legislation."
Despite one poll revealing that 63% of West Virginians
supported the $15 minimum wage increase,
it was not included in the relief bill.
And it was also Manchin
that insisted on capping stimulus check eligibility
at $80,000 rather than $100,000,
which was the original number.
And it was Manchin who insisted
on lowering unemployment benefits by $100.
According to Hickey, there's a perception in West Virginia
that there's a class of people there
who are just taking advantage
of government entitlement programs.
He told us- - Making that his issue
with the COVID relief bill
and getting a little win on that, I think,
also just builds this sort of reputation
he has in West Virginia.
- [PJ] Manchin's endeavoring to comprehend West Virginia
and his place in it will be ongoing for the next few years.
Hickey told us-
- [Patrick] Once Manchin goes,
West Virginia's gonna be dominated by Republicans
for decades to come.
- [PJ] Manchin won't be up for re-election until 2025.
But with the sea changing back home,
Almost Heaven's chances of staying afloat are slim to none.
(soft whimsical music)
- Hey, I'm Sean Morrow,
host of the NowThis podcast "Who Is?"
You might remember me from those annoying ads
you were subject to at the end of videos for like two years.
Who are the people that run the world?
Um, things have changed a bit since I last saw you;
you know, pandemic, insurrection,
"Emily in Paris" getting nominated for a Golden Globe.
But I'm still trying to figure out
who are the people who run the world.
On "Who Is? The Podcast," we examine power
through the stories of the people who have it,
from mercenary forces
to the big businesses controlling your food
to a hedge fund manager
who basically holds countries for ransom.
To tell these stories, we bring in cool guests,
from people you've heard of, like Stacey Abrams,
to people you haven't, like law professors
digging into police union contracts
and reporters following the money
that flows from the donor class
to the politicians who supposedly represent all of us.
Two seasons, that's 32 episodes, are ready for you to binge,
and we're back for season three,
where we'll look at the giant corporations
that might ruin weed for everyone,
the organizations who ensure police
aren't held accountable for misconduct,
and the wealthy interests who are fighting
to keep America sick and unhealthy
so they can, you know, make money off of it.
Look for "Who Is? The Podcast" on iHeartRadio,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
That's "Who Is? The Podcast."