For a small state, West Virginia has outsize political influence. The Mountain State’s two senators, Democrat Joe Manchin III and Republican Shelley Moore Capito, are in the middle of the biggest debates on the congressional and White House agenda.

Andrea Billups, news director at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, joins us on the Political Theater podcast to explain why these two politicians are so effective.

Show Notes:

• Opinion: Joe Manchin is a bona fide centrist. Deal with it
• Capito, ‘a doer,’ embraces deal-maker role on infrastructure
• After infrastructure talks collapse, two options for Biden
• Manchin unmoved by civil rights meeting as Democrats look for path on elections overhaul
• Liberal groups pressing for voting, ethics overhaul undaunted by Manchin opposition