With the U.S. Senate evenly split 50-50, all eyes are on Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV).
The West Virginia senator, a moderate Democrat from ruby red West Virginia, is expected to become chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The committee is seen as the most “non-partisan” or “bipartisan” entity focusing on “energy resources and development, including regulation, conservation, strategic petroleum reserves and appliance standards; nuclear energy; Indian affairs; public lands and their renewable resources; surface mining, Federal coal, oil, and gas, other mineral leasing; territories and insular possessions; and water resources.”