In the first six months of the legislative session, one man has emerged as a national obsession for the left: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). Over a decade into his career in Washington, Manchin has recently enjoyed newfound press attention, after the Senate landscape became evenly split following the Georgia runoffs in January. After the historic vote, he found himself dead center, the difference between passing and rejecting partisan legislation in a 50-50 Senate. And he became seen as the major impediment to ending the legislative filibuster and allowing all Senate business to pass with a simple majority.
The fixation on Manchin reached a fever pitch in early June, with the all-time highest number of Google searches for the Appalachian senator. This dovetailed with an op-ed he wrote, announcing that he would neither vote for the ambitious voting rights bill, H.R. 1, nor support abolishing the filibuster.
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