President Biden has picked Gayle Conelly Manchin, the wife of Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, the White House announced today.Pending Senate approval, educator Gayle Conelly Manchin will serve alongside the governors of 13 Appalachian states as co-chairs of the commission focused on economic development. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is a key figure for Biden to win over as the White House tries to enact its sweeping agenda. The coal-state senator is a conservative Democrat in a chamber split evenly with Republicans. Gayle Conelly Manchin previously worked in Marion County, W.Va., public schools and was a faculty member of Fairmont State University. She was also West Virginia secretary of education and the arts until 2018.
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