I think you'd need air quotes made by those big foam sports hands for that.

~Democrat

At the very least he was a seat that put democrats in charge of the senate. Without him WV almost certainly get a red seat.

Given Biden’s poll numbers and the loss of the seat, we’re going to be dangerously close to a national abortion ban in 2024.

Unfortunately, no. That seat is lost to the Dems for the foreseeable future.

It's annoying that he hamstrung his party at some key moments but he still voted along with Democrats more than most Republicans do.

I think people who were frustrated with him completely misunderstand. The alternative to Joe Manchin isn’t a more normal Dem. It’s no Dem at all. He was a bonus vote, who helped keep control of the senate, allowing Dems to set the legislative agenda and approve judicial appointments.

And frankly, the alternative isn’t even a normal Republican. West Virginia is one of the reddest states in the country with a partisan lean of R+35.5! Joe Manchin will likely be replaced with a super right wing ideologue. Dems had no right to expect more from Manchin.

lol no. In 2020 Biden lost WV by over 40 points and so did the Dem running for Senate there.

The state legislature has an 89-11 Republican majority in the house of delegates and a 31-3 Republican majority in the Senate.

And it’s only getting redder.

That seat will be lost to republicans for generations. Manchin was only electable as a Dem because he was a very popular governor. He’s the only Dem in the state that could win it.

People cheering for this are absolute fucking idiots.

Yeah exactly. We are losing someone who votes with Dems like 80% of the time to an actual Republican who will be closer to 10%.

I feel like if a progressive Democratic candidate in WV ran on that exact message they'd get elected.

That's because they're not Democrats. Their Republicans from the 1980s.

Not only breathes it. Pumps toxins into it via the coal company he owns.

Wasn't this guy just in the news for kicking the infrastructure bill (which was effectively meant to be our try at national-level climate action) repeatedly in the balls, cutting climate and infrastructure spending by like half - and then holding the whole thing up at the end when his clients/constituents presumably realized that one of the provisions in the bill would jeopardize the pipeline deal they had been working on (which, surprise, happened to go through some frontline communities, etc etc)?

There's always a rotating villain...

Does anyone outside of WV actually like this guy? He seems to be interested in something like that but I don’t see it going anywhere.