Amazing how they elected a Democrat Gov.
The new governor was a Republican until 2014 and is very pro-coal. His wiki says he was endorsed by United Mine Workers.
WV has been a very traditionally Democratic state, but they’re having a sort of identity crisis now that their party has gone to crazy town. I read somewhere recently that when Bill Clinton ran for president, WV was considered the 1st or 2nd most Democratic state in the country and now it’s the 1st or 2nd most Republican state in the country.
I think Democrat governors will still be viable in WV for a while longer as they can at least rhetorically oppose the radicalized national party agenda, but for US Senators, that’s a much harder task. Reid has given Manchin a very wide berth (you’ll recall his 2012 ad in which he literally put a bullet through a cap and trade bill) which has enabled him to survive 4 years ago and TBH probably again in 2018. Remember, Obama got 35% of the vote in WV in 2012, but they spared Manchin, whose opponent got 36% - crazy.
It’s probably wise to get Manchin out of there by any means necessary because I wouldn’t bank on him losing his reelection bid, no matter how much D’s get hammered in the next midterm. He’s well-regarded from his days as governor and can’t easily be cast in the same mold as the rest of the hardened Marxists in the senate.