Manchin, Joseph III,
1947 - , Senator from West Virginia, b. Farmington, W. Va.,
West Va. Univ. (B.B.A., 1970). Manchin's father and grandfather both served
as Farmington's mayor and his uncle served in the state's House of Delegates
and later as its Secretary of State and Treasury. Manchin worked in the coal
business while also serving in the state's House of Delegates (1982-87) and
its Senate (1987-96). He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1996, but was
elected Secretary of State in 2000. He was elected governor in 2004 and
2008, and then to the U.S. Senate (2010- ). Machin has served as a centrist
Democrat, and has become a key power broker in the evenly divided Senate
since the election of Joe Biden in 2020.
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