“No way, shape or form,” Manchin said.

Republicans, fearing losing control of the upper chamber, are using the prospect of Democrats packing the Supreme Court and eliminating the filibuster to influence the runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, Manchin said.

Since no one received a majority in the election for Senate in Georgia on Nov. 3, a runoff election will be held Jan. 5 between the top two finishers for the full term and for an unexpired term.

Democratic victories for the Senate in Georgia would result in 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans and the Democrats taking control as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote when there is a tie.

The threat that Democrats will expand the number of justices to stack the Supreme Court or eliminate the filibuster is a “scare tactic” by the Republicans, Manchin said.

If the Democrats should win the seats in Georgia, which is possible because of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory there, There won’t be a tie vote for Harris to break on the Supreme Court or filibuster issues because Manchin said he will vote against it.

“I’ve laid that fear to rest,” he said.

The Founding Fathers intended there to be a body, the Senate, where the minority can be a check and balance on power and everyone works in a bipartisan way, Manchin said. The filibuster is the check and balance, he said.

Otherwise, the minority would have no input, Manchin said.

“Without it (the filibuster), then you break the Senate,” he said.

The House of Representatives has no filibuster rule, so former congressmen who are elected to the Senate see things from a different perspective, Manchin said. Senators who were governors, for example, like Manchin, see it from a point of view including the minority, he said.

“Their mindset is different from ours,” Manchin said.

Manchin’s stand had little influence on Melody Potter, chairwoman of the West Virginia Republican Party.

“West Virginians can’t trust a word Joe Manchin says these days; his opinions shift with the winds coming off the Potomac swamp,” Potter said. “He voted against Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, voted to impeach President Donald Trump, has voted against COVID relief funding and voted against tax cuts. We look forward to beating him if he runs for re-election.”

Manchin said he voted against Barrett because the Senate has never confirmed a Supreme Court justice for a vacancy that arose after July in an election year.

Divisive issues further split a nation that is already divided, Manchin said.

An issue with a definite impact in Georgia and other states including West Virginia would be healthcare and the Affordable Care Act, Manchin said. Georgia, like West Virginia, has experienced the closure of rural hospitals, he said. Also, funds to states through the act, besides helping people, create jobs, including 16,000 jobs in West Virginia, he said.

In the Georgia races, Democrat Raphael Warnock, who received about 33 percent of the vote, will face Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who received about 26 percent.

In the other race, Republican Sen. David Perdue received 49.7 percent of the vote to Democrat Jon Ossoff’s 48 percent.

“I’m humbled and thrilled and grateful to West Virginia and eager to go back to work,” Capito said during MetroNews’ Election Night coverage.

The race was called right after West Virginia polls closed at 7:30 p.m. Media organizations such as Fox News also called this race right away.

Just before 10 p.m., with 66% of the votes in, Capito had 387,100 (69%) votes to Paula Jean Swearengin’s 157,510 (28%). All numbers are unofficial.

The three Republican incumbents in West Virginia’s congressional delegation — David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Carol Miller — also were projected as winners by MetroNews.

That’s a change from the state’s Democratic primary election in June, when every registered voter automatically was mailed an absentee voter application. The Secretary of State’s office has said there will be a new online system for absentee-ballot requests in place this fall, or residents can request a mail-in ballot by mail, over the phone or in person.

Policy Director at the ACLU of West Virginia Eli Baumwell said even simple changes can dissuade people from voting.

“Again, there are a number of people who are probably not paying attention to the news about elections, who are going to expect now that these ballot applications are going to come in the mail,” Baumwell said. “And, by the time that they find that that’s not the process, they may have missed that opportunity.”

According to data from the Secretary of State’s office, more than 262,000 voters requested absentee ballots for the primary election. Baumwell said the online application to request a ballot will be available at GoVoteWV.com. The site is slated to go live on August 11.

He said budget woes and concerns about potential voter fraud fueled the state’s decision not to automatically send out mail-in ballots for the general election.

“The Secretary of State’s office has pointed to funding issues, as well as concerns about a particular executive order from the governor,” he said. “I’ve heard concerns from county clerks that it’s too much extra effort.”

Baumwell pointed out many residents lack internet service and will not be able to easily access the online portal, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

“A lot of places that people who don’t have reliable internet access might go – for example, libraries – are under limited hours if they are open at all. The same thing could be said for certain government offices,” he said. “For people who don’t have reliable transportation or gas money, frankly, it’s an issue to try to get out to these places to find out that they are closed.”

West Virginia ranks 48th nationwide for the percentage of its population with internet access at home, according to one study from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Thomas Cooper, 47, of Dry Fork, pleaded guilty July 9 to single counts of injury to the mail and attempt to defraud the residents of West Virginia of a fair election. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell and Secretary of State Mac Warner made the announcement. Cooper will be sentenced at a later date. 

“News of the guilty plea underscores the strength of our case,” Morrisey said. “Our team remains committed to protecting the integrity of elections in West Virginia. Our citizens deserve nothing less.”

Cooper was charged in federal court with attempting to defraud the residents of West Virginia of a fair election. According to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint, Cooper fraudulently altered eight absentee ballot requests in Pendleton County. The criminal complaint claims he fraudulently changed the party affiliation on five from Democrat to Republican. An investigator for the Attorney General gathered evidence for the case on behalf of the Secretary of State’s Office.

“In West Virginia every vote counts and those that attempt to disrupt our democratic processes will be held accountable for their actions,” Warner said. “I am greatly pleased with outcome of the Election Fraud Task Force’s effort to investigate and proceed with prosecution expeditiously to obtain a guilty plea of absentee balloting fraud.”

An affidavit filed in late May states Cooper fraudulently altered eight absentee ballot requests in Pendleton County, of which the complaint states he fraudulently changed the party affiliation on five from Democrat to Republican.

According to the affidavit, Cooper accessed the ballot requests through his employment as a rural mail carrier. He was responsible for mail delivery in the three towns – Onego, Riverton and Franklin – from which the tampered requests were mailed. The affidavit says Cooper admitted to altering some of the requests.

In April, investigator Bernie Cogar of the AG’s office and U.S. Postal Service Inspector Todd Phillips interviewed Cooper. During the interview, Cooper said he changed requests that had been placed in the mail at the Onega post office. As for the others, Cooper said, “I’m not saying no … (but) if it was on my route, I would take the blame.”

Cogar then asked Cooper if he was “just being silly.”

“Yeah, (I did it) as a joke,” Cooper replied. “(I) don’t even know them.”

One of the voters said all four members of his family requested a Democrat ballot by placing a blue ink line under the word “Democrat,” and that they did not use black ink. They  said they did not request a Republican ballot. His daughter just happens to be the Onego postmaster and personally placed all four of the requests in the mail at her post office on April 9. Knowing this, the postmaster suggested that a mail carrier might have tampered with their requests.

“Had Cooper’s conduct not been detected, it would have caused the Clerk to give Republican ballots to five Democrat voters — skewing the primary election by five votes and thereby defrauding all West Virginians of a fair election,” Cogar stated in the affidavit.

Morrisey’s office says the alterations were caught by an elections official in the Pendleton County Courthouse and reported to the state’s Election Fraud Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Warner (no relation to the Secretary of State) prosecuted the case. The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office, West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General investigated.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Aloi presided.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 2:20-mj-00018-MJA

She hadn’t always planned on running, however. “I never considered running for office — not because I didn’t think I could do the job but I just didn’t think I was allowed,” Ketchum tells TIME. “I thought that was a space for people who didn’t look like me or live like me.”

Ketchum changed her mind after she had frustrating experiences trying to get elected officials on board with policy changes she was advocating for as part of her work as associate director of the NAMI center for persons with mental illness and as a community organizer. It was then she says, “I realized that I really want to be in the room” where those decisions are made.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund, which focuses on improving LGBTQ representation among government officials, and GLAAD, dedicated to advocating for acceptance of the LGBTQ community, both congratulated Ketchum on her victory.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund pointed out that when Ketchum takes office she will be “one of just 27 out trans elected officials in the entire nation.”

Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement that “Rosemary has shattered a lavender ceiling in West Virginia,” noting that “trans people are severely underrepresented in elected office.”

“We know Rosemary’s race will inspire other trans people from conservative states to consider a run for office in their communities — and then those candidates will inspire others as well,” Parker said. “That virtuous cycle is the key to building trans acceptance and political power long-term.”

Ketchum, 26, clinched a close victory, winning with 39.3% of the vote—just edging out her closest competitor, Peggy Niebergall who lost with 37.2% of the vote and surpassing two other candidates, according to WTRF-TV.

Ketchum said in a video statement on Twitter that the “attention has been overwhelming in the best way possible.”

“We don’t run for office to make history. We run for office to make a difference. I guess if history is made in the process then so be it,” she said.

Ketchum says Wheeling has serious problems with homelessness and the opioids crisis—both issues that she feels uniquely equipped to address because of her experience running a local mental health facility and personal relationships with friends and family struggling with substance abuse. “Addiction doesn’t go away because of a pandemic,” Ketchum says.

Ketchum and her family also went through homelessness and were living on neighbors’ couches after their house burned down in 2010 when she was 16. “We didn’t have a back-up plan,” she says. That was a transformative moment in her life and it’s what brought her family to Wheeling.

Ketchum graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University in May 2019 with a bachelors degree in psychology. She’s often found herself at demonstrations and says she has protested everything from challenges to the Affordable Care Act to gun violence in the wake of the Parkland, Fla. mass shooting to issues surrounding SNAP and poverty.

Ketchum’s trans identity provides a unique perspective on city government, especially when it comes to building trust with communities, she notes. “Being trans, you can’t help but both be vulnerable every single day but also prevent yourself from living your life with your shield up because it’s so easy to do so,” Ketchum says.

Her message to other openly trans people considering running for any kind of off is just to “do it.” “It’s easier than you think,” Ketchum says. “If you really love and are passionate about community and have the best ideas, running for office will be fun and exhilarating and everything you want it to be.”

Although being trans inevitably informs how she shows up personally and professionally, Ketchum says she “didn’t run on the idea of being the first openly trans official in West Virginia.”

“It rarely ever came up in conversation. We spoke about potholes and stray cats,” she adds. “I can’t help—whether I try or not—being trans does influence the way that I run, the way that I speak to folks, how I will potentially legislate in our city.”

Wheeling includes residents from all parts of the political spectrum. “West Virginia in particular can be very tense sometimes because in one instance we have some of the most progressive people in the country living in Wheeling and then a truck drives by with a rebel flag hoisted in its bed,” Ketchum says.

Ketchum acknowledges that nationwide protests against racism and a global pandemic make what’s happening now a unique moment in history—the effects of which are being felt in Wheeling, too. “This is a catharsis in so many ways and it can’t end at holding a sign,” she says. “It has to revolutionize the way we elect people.”

Times are of course complicated now, Ketchum says. “But I don’t think there’s ever been a time more better positioned for change and growth,” she adds.

But Belinda Biafore, chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, says others think his vote was the right thing to do.

“I’m proud to stand with Sen. Manchin in defending our nation and the Constitution, and everything that we stand for as West Virginians,” says Biafore. “He doesn’t do things ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican’ – he does what’s best for West Virginia and best for America.”

However, state Senate President Mitch Carmichael, a Jackson County Republican, says he’s heard from hundreds of his constituents now furious with Manchin. He says they’d like to see the senator removed from office because he voted against a president they think has been good for the state.

Folks across the nation were closely watching Manchin’s impeachment decision.

As a moderate, he’s sided with Trump on tough votes before, such as during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And he called on the Senate to censure Trump rather than impeach.

But ultimately, Biafore points out that his decision came when Republicans refused to allow documents or witnesses in the impeachment trial.

“He feels like a lot of us do,” says Biafore. “How do you even have a trial when you can’t bring in a witness? And we have to look at the fact, he knows a lot more about what happened than we do. So, in his gut he knew it was wrong – and so, I think that’s why he voted the way he did.”

A spokesperson from Sen. Manchin’s office says he has received “mixed” reactions to his vote, and he expected some backlash. The most recent national poll shows 50% of registered voters approve of removing Trump from office, while 43% disapprove.