I think Joe Manchin is setting this up for an injunction

[BGBD]

28. And he has done so by opposing Trump

instead of cozying up to him.

He turned down an offer to become Secretary of Energy, which would have opened the door for an R replacement in the Senate.

He refused overtures from Trump and republicans to switch parties, which the WV Governor DID do.

He had to run for reelection in 2018 directly against a candidate who was endorsed and actively backed by Trump. Trump made a lot of visits to WV in that time to campaign against Manchin. Morrisey was the sitting WV Secretary of State so he was very well known and had already won statewide races. But, Manchin beat him and held the seat while we lost plenty of others that were less red than his.

If he had lost that seat, we would be looking at a much, much steeper climb to get to a majority in the Senate this year. We need that majority because we are going to have a lot of judges to get through next year if Biden wins.