Manchin is the senior senator from West Virginia and is a Democrat. He has served since Nov 15, 2010. Manchin is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025.
![Photo of Sen. Joe Manchin [D-WV]](/static/legislator-photos/412391-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Manchin.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Manchin is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate 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 Manchin has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 6, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Manchin was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3147 (116th): Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act of 2019
- S. 3374: Protecting Jessica Grubb’s Legacy Act
- S. 2995: Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act of 2019
- S. 1081: Land and Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act
- S. 2788 (116th): Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019
- S. 27: American Miners Act of 2019
- S. 2906 (115th): VA MISSION Act of 2018
Does 12 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 sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (28%) Armed Forces and National Security (23%) Energy (14%) Science, Technology, Communications (10%) Labor and Employment (8%) Government Operations and Politics (6%) Crime and Law Enforcement (6%) Education (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Manchin’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 4894: DOC Access Act of 2019
- S.Res. 742: A resolution designating September 2020 as “National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month”.
- S. 4758: See Something, Say Something Online Act of 2020
- S.Res. 718: A resolution reaffirming the Senate’s commitment to the orderly and peaceful transfer of ...
- S. 4515: ACCESS the Internet Act
- S. 4435: POST Act
- S. 4282: Crisis Care Improvement and Suicide Prevention Act of 2020
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Nov 2010 to Jan 2021, Manchin missed 49 of 3,016 roll call votes, which is 1.6%. This is on par with the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
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
