page_title: Joe Manchin
section_title: 2010
hierarchical_section_title: Joe Manchin / U.S. Senate / Elections / 2010
caption_attribution_description: English: Official portrait of Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
context_page_description: Joseph Manchin III is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005.
  Manchin is a moderate Democrat, which has allowed him to continue to win elections in West Virginia even as it has shifted from one of the most Democratic states in the country to one of the most Republican. He won the 2004 gubernatorial election by a large margin and was reelected by an even larger margin in 2008; in both years, Republican presidential candidates won West Virginia. Manchin won the special election with 54% of the vote in 2010 to fill the Senate seat vacated by incumbent Democrat Robert Byrd when he died in office. Manchin was elected to a full-term in 2012 with 61% of the vote and reelected with 50% of the vote in 2018. He became the state's senior U.S. Senator when fellow Democrat Jay Rockefeller retired in 2015.
  As a member of Congress, Manchin is known for his bipartisanship, voting or working with Republicans on issues such as abortion and gun ownership.
context_section_description: Due to Senator Robert Byrd's declining health, there was much speculation about what Manchin would do if Byrd died. Manchin refused to comment on the subject until Byrd's death, except to say that he would not appoint himself to the Senate. Byrd died on June 28, 2010, and Manchin appointed Carte Goodwin, his 36-year-old legal adviser, on July 16.
  On July 20, 2010, Manchin announced he would seek the Senate seat. In the August 28 Democratic primary he defeated former Democratic Congressman and former West Virginia Secretary of State Ken Hechler. In the general election he defeated Republican businessman John Raese with 54% of the vote.
caption: Manchin's 112th Congressional session portrait
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