Manchin's an example of West Virginia once being solid blue. Manchin was the governor there. Thus the people there respect him, to some degree. But he's easily, and I mean
easily, replaceable. Carter, Dukakis, and Clinton in our post-postmodern time all carried the state (Dukakis, to me, exemplifies the solid blue because... well Christ, the dude was a weak and foolish candidate against H. Dubya.). Jimmy and Bill were both also southern state governors (Georgia and Arkansas, respectively), with more emphasis on Jimmy; even when Reagan blew him out in '80, he still held onto WV.
After the Clinton era, WV turned red with Dubya, and has grown more and more red 2000 onwards. It was even redder with McCain against Obama. I need to do more research on that alone, but it's clear—West Virginians hate the Democratic Party, and have shown it repeatedly in strides.
Look at this [photo]graph. It's historical trends make me laugh:
View attachment 2073265
Nowadays, the Democratic Party obviously couldn't give a shit about a, what is it, 4 or 5 electoral vote state?