West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is under attack from progressive House Democrats and their media allies. But the attacks on Manchin should be viewed through their proper lens: Manchin is both the majority maker and the human shield for Senate Democrats, and they are happy to have him there.
The ship has sailed on the idea that Manchin would switch over to the GOP. As a Democrat, Manchin chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, a valuable role for a man representing West Virginia in a Democratic-controlled Congress. And Manchin is a Democrat: He would certainly not be conservative enough to fend off Republican primary challengers in one of the most conservative states in the country.
Instead, Manchin currently chairs a key committee for his state and serves as a bulwark between West Virginia and more radical Democratic policies. Every progressive attack on Manchin strengthens his potential reelection campaign. He gets to play kingmaker in an evenly divided Senate. This is the position Manchin wants to be in, especially after it had been reported in 2019 that he was upset with the lack of bipartisanship in the Senate and was considering a run for governor instead.
Senate Democrats are happy to have them there as well. It is because of Manchin that Chuck Schumer can finally call himself the Senate Majority Leader. Manchin is the reason Democrats can advance parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda, including judges and other nominees. He’s also the reason they now serve as committee chairs, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Budget Committee. As a Democrat representing West Virginia, Manchin is a political unicorn, the equivalent of the GOP holding the majority thanks to a Republican senator from Hawaii or Vermont.
And, of course, no one is happier than the other Senate Democrats who face perilous reelection campaigns. Manchin serves as a human shield for them (as does Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, to a lesser extent).
While Manchin takes all the heat from progressives for stifling the more radical parts of the Democratic agenda, senators such as Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada can stay in the good graces of the activist wing of their party while not having to answer for the radical changes that Manchin prevents from moving forward. Along with Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Arizona’s Mark Kelly, Hassan and Cortez Masto will be up for reelection in 2022 in states in which the GOP is competitive and in a year that should be difficult for Democrats.
So, while the more irrelevant members of the House Democratic Caucus complain about Manchin’s refusal to convert to progressivism, he and his Democratic colleagues in the Senate get exactly what they want. They get the majority, control of the Senate agenda and committees, and a human shield for vulnerable members in 2022. Manchin gets to force the more bipartisan process he craves and boosts his credibility as a centrist in his home state. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and, in the Senate, at least, everyone wins.
