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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