CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For years, Joe Manchin cobbled together a political coalition he could count on, a blend of business and labor.
“Manchin, in particular, had the support of both unions and the business community. When you get both on your side there’s not much left to work with in politics,” said Gary Abernathy, a former director of the West Virginia Republican Party who was involved with several efforts to defeat Manchin.
“You had traditional business interests like the Chamber that you couldn’t pry away from Manchin and several other Democrats. A lot of them at that time couldn’t perceive it was possible for the state to flip Republican so they hedged their bets very heavily.”
That, like much of West Virginia’s political landscape, may be changing.
Manchin, a former governor and incumbent U.S. senator, has trumpeted endorsements by labor unions such as the United Mine Workers and the state AFL-CIO.
But when the state Chamber of Commerce announced its endorsements this week, Manchin’s name was absent.
The Chamber’s political action committee pledged a primary endorsement to Evan Jenkins, a Republican congressman who used to be executive director of the West Virginia Medical Association.
That’s unusual.
Manchin has received the Chamber’s endorsement for every race he’s been in since 1996, said Steve Roberts, the Chamber’s president.
The Chamber was for Manchin during his Democratic primary loss for governor in 1996, his successful run for West Virginia Secretary of State in 2000, his run for governor in 2004, his re-election in 2008, his special election run for U.S. Senate after the death of Robert Byrd in 2010 and his Senate re-election run in 2012.
“Have we endorsed him in the past? Yes,” Roberts said in a telephone interview.
But this year, when the Chamber surveyed its membership statewide, there was strong support for Jenkins, Roberts said.
In the Chamber’s news release, Roberts stated, “Congressman Jenkins has consistently voted for policies that will further job creation and economic development while serving in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the West Virginia Legislature.”
Roberts said the Chamber bases its endorsements for lawmakers based largely on key votes. Manchin had a cumulative voting record with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of about 58 percent, Roberts said.
“Our members seem to be very supportive of where we are. At this point, all of the evidence we have suggests we are accurately and adequately representing the point of view of our members,” Roberts said in the telephone interview.
“We are very clear that they want Jenkins. If Jenkins were to not be the nominee, I think we would have to go back and ask again.”
Roberts said it’s also possible — but not a certainty — that the Chamber’s membership could choose to issue some additional primary endorsements. It’s possible — but again not certain — that could include a Democratic primary endorsement for Manchin.
“I do not know what might happen, other than I can tell you that the possibility exists of an additional endorsement between now and the primary,” Roberts said. “There’s not consensus about that at this particular time.”
That kind of action was the path taken by the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce, which endorsed Jenkins in the Republican primary and Manchin in the Democratic primary.
That’s in part a product of uncertainty around West Virginia politics, said Bill Bissett, executive director of the Huntington Chamber.
Jenkins is in a tight primary race with additional front-runners including Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and former coal executive Don Blankenship.
And the thousands of teachers who rallied for several weeks at the state Capitol to demand better pay and benefits may have an effect on races up and down the ballot.
“In West Virginia, post-teacher strike with the uncertainty that created and the logjam of issues that occurred, I think there is a divide that wasn’t there in the past between organized labor and the business community,” Bissett said. “What does that mean long-term? That remains to be seen.”
Some business endorsements and a solid set of labor endorsements enabled Manchin’s campaign to put out a news release titled, “Manchin Earns Strong Support from Business and Labor.”
Besides the Huntington Chamber, the release cited an endorsement by the West Virginia Travel and Hospitality Association. It also named the labor organizations supporting Manchin.
“It means so much to have the support of both business leaders and labor in this campaign because there is so much more we can do when we are united,” Manchin stated in the release.
“All sides must come together to create good-paying jobs with benefits for our people. Creating new job opportunities isn’t political — it’s about bringing the right people together to achieve a common goal.”
West Virginia’s labor unions appear to have no doubt about Manchin, who first ran for governor as a pro-business Democrat.
The state AFL-CIO’s political action committee said it proudly endorses Manchin.
The West Virginia Coal Miners Political Action Committee also touted its Manchin endorsement.
“West Virginia working families, including UMWA members, have no better friend in Washington than Senator Joe Manchin,” United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts stated when the endorsement was announced.
“I don’t care what anyone else says. Joe Manchin stands up for coal miners and all working families in West Virginia every single day. I have seen him in action on Capitol Hill; his force of will and powerful voice on behalf of working and retired West Virginians is amazing to behold.”
The solid labor support and lukewarm business response is different than it used to be for Manchin, observed Robert Rupp, a political science professor at West Virginia Wesleyan.
In the past, “Manchin’s close ties to business posed a risk that the more liberal members of the Democratic Party have often threatened to withhold support because of this Manchin coalition. But every time when faced with the alternatives, the liberals came back,” Rupp said.
Now it’s business that seems like it might bolt.
“Ten years ago, they wouldn’t have done this. They wouldn’t even have thought of it,” Rupp said in a telephone interview. “The chess pieces that were in place for decades have changed.”
Manchin was comfortable putting together big business support along with labor support.
“It suited the personality of Manchin, who calls himself a moderate,” Rupp said. “It also worked because Manchin as with many conservative Democrats in the state of West Virginia, had a strong business background. So given the profile of Manchin, it’s not surprising he set up this kind of Manchin coalition.
“Now under the changes of West Virginia politics, is business ready to give less support than they have in the past?”