How Democrat Joe Manchin has spent $1 MILLION in campaign dollars on fancy dinners

To find some of the classiest places to eat in Washington, DC and across the country, just keep track of where Senator Joe Manchin has been winning and dining DC powerhouse players in the campaign tab. .

The West Virginia Democrat, whose moderate fiscal views have made him a key player in the narrowly divided Senate, has spent more than $1.13 million through his campaign and PAC leadership on food and catering since taking office in 2011, according to FEC records reviewed by DailyMail.com.

With Manchin’s rise to prominence in the divided Senate, he realized he could no longer simply be the former governor of coal country West Virginia who did not join his party’s leftward jolt. He is a man of the city, the one business executives clamor with when they want him to shape, or kill, President Biden’s legislation.

The 75-year-old senator has been coy about his 2024 plans, leaving Democrats waiting with bated breath to see if their likely only hope of keeping West Virginia’s blue seat in red will come up again.

This week, Manchin joined the world elite in Davos, the Swiss ski town where oligarchs and politicians descend each year to discuss globalist ideas.

There he sat on a panel with other US lawmakers, high-fived Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Az., for supporting Senate filibuster and defended the Cut Inflation Act, which Europeans believe could divert investment in green energy in their countries in favor of the United States

As Politico recently noted, the “previously unknown, gum-chewing, no-nonsense West Virginia” has now become “the newfound Davos Man.”

The staggering $1.13 million dwarfs the spending of fellow West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, whose campaign and related PAC have spent $123,000 on catering and meals since she took office in 2015.

Since 2019, just 5 percent, $14,400, of his campaign and PAC leadership dinner spending went to vendors in Manchin’s home state. Since 2019, the campaign and PAC leadership have spent $268,455.27 on catering and related expenses outside of West Virginia.

The senator has spent $80,000 at some of the best restaurants in Washington DC since he was re-elected in 2018.

In an expense filed on January 20, 2022, the West Virginia Democrat’s campaign racked up a $10,000 tab at Joe’s Seafood, a restaurant that boasts of its ‘tuxedo service’ and an array of fresh seafood that arrives every day. days including ‘World’s Best Florida Stone Crab Claws.

Manchin’s campaign has gone to Joe’s on five separate occasions totaling nearly $20,000 since 2021, with three separate bills costing close to $3,000 and one for just $200.

Manchin also spent about $20,000 at Ocean Prime, a restaurant steps from the White House that bills itself as “an ideal place to socialize, discuss business, celebrate and enjoy.” He’s spent half that amount at Capital Grille, a restaurant featuring “more than 350 world-class wines,” $7,000 at Bistro Bis, a French bistro on Capitol Hill whose “regular guests include senators, congressmen, celebrities, and powerful seeking to dine in the ambiance and luxury of one of Washington’s most popular restaurants.’

He has spent nearly $6,000 at Lavagna, an Italian restaurant on Capitol Hill, and more than $1,000 at The Monocle, “a favorite congressional fundraiser” where guests regularly include senators, representatives and lobbyists.

Since his re-election, the senator has also spent $56,000 at prestigious venues outside of Washington, DC, including $20,000 at The Little Nell in Colorado, “Aspen’s only five-star, five-diamond hotel,” whose “Special One-Bedroom Suite” it can run over $5,000 a night.

He spent $15,000 at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, which used to be an exclusive whites-only club and admitted its first black member in 1997. It has been described as a “playground for Houston’s old-money aristocracy” .

Some $2,500 went to the Coronado Club, an “elegant private dining club located in a landmark building in downtown Houston” that “offers luxurious comfort, exceptional dining, and impeccable, highly personalized service,” while $6,500 went to the Loews Regency Hotel in New York City.

Manchin raises a lot of money from Houston-area donors — about $1.07 million in the 2022 election cycle. In fact, only 7.3 percent of his donations came from West Virginia in 2022. New York donors gave $1.34 million, while $847,000 came from DC, $502,000 from Dallas and $462,000 from Chicago.

Since re-election, Manchin has also spent $4,250 at DC’s Capital Yacht Club, where he docks the houseboat he lives on while the Senate is in session.

For some, frequenting DC’s exclusive food circuit is just the name of the game.

“Political candidates spending money on food and catering for fundraisers at good venues is nothing new or a surprise,” West Virginia-based Democratic strategist Mike Plante told DailyMail.com.

He noted that FEC records show that throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, Republican candidates spent more than $22 million on both event venue rental and catering costs at Trump properties.

John Gibbs, a Republican running for Senate in Michigan, spent $72,000 on event space rental and catering costs for a Mar-a-Lago event in March. Georgia Republican Party Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Georgia Republican Party Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have held events that together cost $64,000 and $44,000 respectively at Mar-a-Lago.

Others find the numbers staggeringly high.

‘Sen. Manchin does not lead by example that he has been setting in Washington DC for so long. Looking at these figures, you see an absurd number being spent on unnecessary spending – these spending are far in excess of what regular senators from the richest states spend,” Republican strategist Rina Shah told DailyMail.com.

“He excels at the virtues of being local and propping up the West Virginian average every day, and yet lives his life in Washington DC in a different way than most West Virginians are familiar with,” she added.

“Manchin’s spending on entertaining and dining with people who are often disconnected from his constituency tells us that he belongs more to the ranks of wealthy Americans in the private sector, like his daughter, who has made a fortune in pharmaceuticals.” .

Where does Joe Manchin eat and drink in Washington, DC?