A U.S. senator born and raised in a small coal-mining town will have a big say in the future of electric vehicles.
With an evenly split Senate, centrist Democrats are in position to steer President Joe Biden's plans to build up infrastructure and combat climate change through the chamber. Expect Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia with a decade of Senate experience, to have a moderating influence on the president's ambitious clean-energy goals.
Manchin, 73, chairman of a key committee and the former governor of a state that twice voted for former President Donald Trump, is determined to protect communities in West Virginia amid a global transition to renewable energy.