While not a native, I know West Virginia inside and out. My parents lived in WV for a time before I was born, and the day my father was born, his father was deep in a West Virginia coal mine, working to send money back home to his large family. My grandfather died in 1944, 16 years before I was born. My father was nine years old.
At one time, being a Democrat in WV was absolutely essential to having any say whatsoever in politics. Times and allegiances have changed, but some have chosen, out of an unshakeable faith in the working man, to remain Democrats. Joe Manchin is one of them. Very, very conservative Democrats. (So was my grandfather.)
I hate it that Manchin has to give some lip service to the Democrats and their platform, and perhaps not be as full-throatedly pro-life as he would like to be (he is the son of Italian and Czech Catholics), but where he is right now, he is arguably the most powerful man in Washington. If he became a Republican, he'd be just one more Republican senator.
Aside from small "progressive" pockets in the university towns, Morgantown, Huntington, and Charleston, and possibly some lack of oxygen in the far eastern panhandle exurbs of DC, you can't believe how socially conservative West Virginia is. To this day, I enjoy vacationing there, the place will blow you away. There's not a person on this forum who wouldn't find it refreshing. Traditional family values, devoutly religious (even if most of the religion is materially heretical), one of America's last no-BS zones.
And if you like Italian food, do get Gino's. The hamburger subs are the best I've ever had. The pizza subs are pretty good too.