CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia has long proclaimed itself ‘Almost Heaven,’ a nod to song and towering mountain vistas. Some joke that the name of the state, checked in “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” could take things a step further as Democratic Senator Joe Manchin makes his way through Congress.
“Maybe we’ll get status from heaven,” said Nick Casey, a former Democratic Party official.
Revitalizing West Virginia’s economically battered coal towns and reversing an ongoing population decline is a challenge. But Manchin, who grew up in the mountain town of Farmington, has emerged as a major decisive voice in a divided Senate. Now he has his best shot in years of sending federal dollars home.
Manchin again this week placed himself in the midst of the COVID emergency bill making its way through Congress, single-handedly halting work on the measure Friday, while Democrats tried his concerns about the size and duration of an extended unemployment benefit. to appease.
As for his own agenda, Manchin has publicly dropped hints about “ common sense ” infrastructure investments that were badly needed at home: expanding broadband in rural areas and repairing roads in between. He stated that West Virginia could provide the manufacturing firepower to “innovate our way to a cleaner climate.” And more than once he said that miners can build the best solar panels if they get the chance.
Some wonder if his newfound power could help him do something former President Donald Trump promised but couldn’t deliver – reviving a state economy that has long been overly dependent on a coal industry in free fall.
The Manchin Senate colleagues have good reason to study the needs of small towns outside the Blue Ridge Mountains. Manchin, 73, was already a licensed deal maker on Capitol Hill, but reverence for the most conservative Democrat in a 50-50 senate has increased since November. A Hawaii senator recently teased him as “Your Highness.” The guessing game how he will vote has become fodder for late-night television.
In recent days, Manchin’s opposition helped sink Neera Tanden as President Joe Biden’s candidate to lead the federal Office of Management and Budget.
Since Robert Byrd’s death in 2010, a West Virginia senator hasn’t wielded that much influence. For more than half a century, Byrd brought home billions of dollars in federal buildings, monuments, and roads, many of which bore his name.
“This is a hard country to fathom, man – our population is falling, the loss of coal,” said Casey, a lawyer and former chairman of the Democratic state party. “We now have a man who might be able to do something about inheritance. And I think there is a lot of hope and expectation that Joe will do things that are important and exceptional. “
Pam Garrison, a retired cashier, said she told Manchin at a meeting seeking a federal minimum wage of $ 15 that Byrd named universities and hospitals after him because “when he came to power, he used that power for the good. of the people.”
“If you do what’s right for the people, even after you’ve gone, you will be remembered.”
However, Manchin doesn’t see himself as a seeker of pork barrel projects, but as a champion of policies that help Appalachia and the Rust Belt.
“What we need to do now, and I think it’s appropriate – we’re showing the need, and that the basics are left behind,” he said.
He started that path by joining Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow to co-sponsor a proposal for $ 8 billion in tax credits to boost clean energy production for coal communities and the auto industry.
Robert Rupp, a professor of political history at West Virginia Wesleyan College, says Manchin can use his 50-50 senate position to put his small state at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
“He’s the center of attention and he can wield power,” Rupp said.
Former Governor Manchin has deep roots in West Virginia politics. That helps explain why he is the last Democrat to hold a state-wide office in a state that carries Trump twice by wide margin.
Manchin maintains an air of unpredictability. He opposed a $ 15 minimum wage in the $ 1.9 billion pandemic stimulus package even after activists rallied outside his Charleston state office, leading some to question his future legacy.
“We’re going to smell like a rose in West Virginia, or we’re going to smell like junk, and it’s going to be attributed to Joseph Manchin,” said Jean Evansmore, 80, an organizer of the Poor People’s Campaign in West Virginia.
Days later, the Senate MP ruled that an increase could not be included in the COVID-19 bill. That was a win for Manchin and his deference to Senate customs, including the filibuster, helping a 60-vote hurdle to advance most legislation.
Manchin has vowed never to support the ending of the filibuster.
On a recent morning in Charleston outside the gold-domed state capitol, rescuing it was a rallying cry for anti-abortion advocates holding signs that read, “Thank you Senator Manchin.”
“We need to encourage him to stay strong,” said Marilyn Musgrave, who works for the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion nonprofit.
Musgrave’s group is now looking to Manchin after campaigning against his 2018 bid for a second full term, which he won with just under 50% of the vote. Manchin opposes government funding for abortions, but doesn’t support a complete ban. Still, he typically scores a low score from abortion rights groups, which brings him more in line with Western Virginians who have collectively sent mixed signals about abortion.
With his centrist instincts in such a red state, Manchin has occasionally been the subject of rumors that he will switch sides.
“Republicans have a kind of daydream that just because he’s conservative on some issues, that would mean he’d jump at parties,” Rupp said.
That’s unlikely, especially given Manchin’s new influence, he said. And that’s fine with Matt Kerner, a 54-year-old West Virginiaan who wants Manchin to never forget that 16% of the people in his state live below the poverty line, the sixth highest in the country, according to the US Census.
“We hope Senator Manchin remembers representing some of the poorest people in this country,” said Kerner.