Gayle Conelly Manchin is in “stable condition” and will remain hospitalized for several days, according to a West Virginia lawmaker
Sen. Joe Manchin’s wife, Gayle Conelly Manchin, has been hospitalized and is in “stable condition” after a car accident, according to the West Virginia lawmaker.
“On Monday, my wife Gayle and her colleague Guy Land were involved in a car accident en route from the airport to a hotel in Birmingham, Alabama for an Appalachian Regional Commission event scheduled for today,” Manchin said in a statement released Tuesday morning.
In its own statement, the ARC clarified that “another vehicle hit their car” while they were driving to attend a scholarship workshop.
Senator Manchin said both Gayle and Land have been admitted to a local hospital where they are receiving “excellent care,” adding, “[Gayle] remains in stable condition but will remain there for several days as a precaution.”
Joe Manchin/Instagram
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Gayle, 76, is a former first lady of West Virginia, who later served as chairwoman of the West Virginia Board of Education and secretary of education and the arts under Republican Gov. Jim Justice.
She is currently the federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.
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West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Senator Manchin has been in the news recently for mulling a possible third-party presidential run after he made a surprise announcement in November that he would not seek re-election to the US Senate. Manchin is the rare Democrat elected to represent a deeply conservative state, and his withdrawal from Congress effectively hands the Senate seat to the Republican Party.
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In November, the outgoing senator said he was having a “difficult time” with his plans for the future, telling reporters during an event in Charleston, “The two-party system, if not changed, will be the downfall of our country,” the Associated Press reported.
In January, when asked again if he would consider joining a third-party ticket, Manchin suggested he first had to see how the primaries played out. “If there’s going to be an option or a need for an option, you’ll find out by [Super Tuesday],” he told reporters. “By March, you’re going to have a pretty big chunk of the country and what you’re going to have and what’s going to be offered to you.”
Manchin was governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010, when he was elected to the Senate in a special election. His tenure in Congress sparked controversy among fellow Democrats as he repeatedly blocked the party’s agenda to appease his conservative base.
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Source: HIS Education