Joe Manchin (Shattered)

Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is the senior from. Manchin, a member of the, served as the 34th from 2005 to 2010 and the  from 2001 to 2005.

Manchin has been known throughout his career to be a moderate Democrat, a fact which has allowed him to hold office in West Virginia even as the state shifted from one of the most heavily Democratic in the country to one of the most heavily Republican. He was elected governor by a large margin in 2004 and re-elected with an even larger margin 2008, even though in both years Republican presidential candidates captured the majority of West Virginia's votes. He won the to fill the seat of Senator, the longest serving U.S. Senator in history, who died in office. Manchin was elected to a full term in office with 60 percent of the vote in November 2012. Manchin became the state's senior Senator when Jay Rockefeller retired in 2015.

As a senator, Manchin is known for his bipartisanship, voting or working with Republicans on issues such as abortion and gun ownership. He has opposed the energy policies of Presidents and, declined to vote on both the  and the , voted for removing federal funding from  in 2015, voted against the confirmation of Energy Secretary , and opposed the.

On November 2, 2017, he announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate as a Democrat, but did not rule out an bid.