West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. Manchin was the only Democrat in the Senate to cross party lines, and he did it in a very public way. Manchin’s vote didn’t surprise many Mountain State voters, but it left a lot of people in other states asking, “Why is he even a Democrat?”

That question came from listeners.

“Red State Blue State” is a collaboration between Us & Them and KCRW in Santa Monica, California. Each week until the midterm election, we’re presenting a new segment co-hosted by Trey Kay in West Virginia and Chery Glaser in Southern California.