Joe Manchin Wins in West Virginia, and He Has Brett Kavanaugh to Thank for It

By Brandon Morse | 10:35 PM on November 06, 2018

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Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks to reporters about the political battle for confirmation of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, before a closed-door Democratic policy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

West Virginia’s incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin will keep his seat against Republican Patrick Morrisey.

NBC News has called the West Virginia Senate race:

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat fighting for his political life in Trump country, will live to see another day in the U.S. Senate. The lawmaker will defeat his Republican challenger Patrick Morrisey, the state’s attorney general, NBC News projects.

Manchin was a blue dot in a pro-Trump sea, and likely won thanks to his vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Manchin’s strategy of sticking close to the center has paid off, though curiously, he’s done this in spite of Trump denouncing him as an enemy of the coal industry.

“If you vote for Joe Manchin or any other Democrat in November, you’re voting for someone who wants to destroy the coal industry,” Trump said of Manchin according to NBC.

It would appear that even the wave of momentum generated from a “yes” vote for Kavanaugh even applied to Democrats, and Manchin is riding the red wave to a blue victory.