Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) reported that his wife, Gayle, was transported to the hospital this week following a vehicle accident in Alabama.
The collision occurred on Monday as Gayle, co-chairwoman of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), and her colleague Guy Land were traveling from the airport to a hotel in Birmingham in preparation for a Tuesday ARC engagement, according to a statement from the lawmaker.
Gayle Manchin, currently in her mid-seventies, held the position of first lady of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010, during her husband’s tenure as governor.
She was an accomplished educator who, among other positions, was for a time the state’s secretary of education and the arts.
The Senate later that year approved Gayle Manchin’s nomination to the ARC, an economic development partnership organization comprised of thirteen state governments and the federal government operating in the Appalachian region. Manchin was appointed to the ARC by President Joe Biden in 2021.
Since 2010, Joe Manchin has been a member of the Senate.
Although he declared his decision not to run for re-election in 2024 last year, the Democrat maintained the possibility of a future presidential campaign.
The senator has been married to Gayle for over fifty years. The couple are the proud parents of three children and numerous grandchildren.
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