Sen. Joe Manchin
Former Senator for West Virginia
pronounced joh // MAN-chin
Manchin was a senator from West Virginia and was most recently an Independent caucusing with the Democrats (2024-2024) and previously a Democrat (2010-2024). He served from 2010 to 2024.
He was also Senate Democratic Policy & Communications Committee Vice Chair, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2024 Report Card for Manchin.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Manchin is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2024 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills legislators sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Dec 21, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Manchin was the primary sponsor of 19 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 452 (118th): Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023
- S. 3699 (117th): Department of Energy Science for the Future Act of 2022
- S. 3435 (117th): National Heritage Area Authority Extension Act of 2021
- S. 3425 (117th): National Heritage Area Authority Extension Act of 2021
- S. 2041 (117th): Department of Veterans Affairs Provider Accountability Act
- S. 2377 (117th): Energy Infrastructure Act
- S. 2066 (117th): INSULATE Buildings Act of 2021
Does 19 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Manchin sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (37%) Armed Forces and National Security (13%) International Affairs (10%) Energy (9%) Education (8%) Government Operations and Politics (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Taxation (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Manchin recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 5575 (118th): A bill to designate the Patsye Crites Forest.
- S. 5455 (118th): Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams State Committal Shelter Act of 2024
- S.Res. 920 (118th): A resolution designating November 2024 as “National Homeless Children and Youth Awareness …
- S. 5400 (118th): Improving Access to Emergency Medical Services Act
- S. 5225 (118th): RESILIENCE Act
- S.Res. 852 (118th): A resolution designating October 20, 2024, as “National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness …
- S.Res. 841 (118th): A resolution designating September 2024 as “National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month”.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Nov 2010 to Dec 2024, Manchin missed 190 of 4,643 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.9% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2024. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absences, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills