Senator Carte P. Goodwin

Carte Patrick Goodwin (born February 27, 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia in 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed by Governor Joe Manchin on July 16, 2010, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Robert C. Byrd. Goodwin’s service in Congress, though brief, occurred during a significant period in American history, and he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his West Virginia constituents during one term in office. He chose not to seek election to finish Byrd’s unexpired term and left office on November 15, 2010, when Manchin was sworn in after being elected to the Senate.

Goodwin was born to Ellen (née Gibson) and Stephen Patrick Goodwin and was raised in rural Mount Alto, West Virginia. He comes from a prominent West Virginia political and civic family. His father chaired the West Virginia University board of directors, and his uncle, Joseph Robert Goodwin, served as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Another cousin, Booth Goodwin, was appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia by President Barack Obama. This family background in law and public service helped shape Goodwin’s early interest in legal and governmental affairs.

Goodwin graduated from Ripley High School in Ripley, West Virginia, in 1992. He went on to attend Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, graduating magna cum laude in 1996. He then studied law at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1999. At Emory he graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif, reflecting high academic distinction and placing him among the top of his law school class.

After completing law school, Goodwin clerked for Judge Robert Bruce King of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1999 to 2000. In 2000 he joined his family’s Charleston-based law firm, Goodwin & Goodwin, where he practiced until 2005, and he later rejoined the firm in 2009. In 2004 he worked on then–West Virginia Secretary of State Joe Manchin’s successful campaign for governor, helping to build a professional relationship that would shape his subsequent public career. In 2005 Manchin appointed Goodwin chairman of the West Virginia School Building Authority, and Goodwin later served as the governor’s chief counsel from 2005 to 2009. In that role he assisted in drafting mine rescue and security legislation in response to the fatal Aracoma and Sago mine disasters, and he advised the governor on a broad range of legal and policy matters. In June 2009, Manchin appointed him chairman of the Independent Commission on Judicial Reform, which studied potential changes to West Virginia’s judicial system.

On July 16, 2010, Governor Manchin appointed Goodwin to the United States Senate seat left vacant by the death of Senator Robert Byrd, pending a special election to select a permanent successor. Before being sworn in, Goodwin publicly broke with many Senate Democrats by stating that he would not support their cap-and-trade climate legislation. He was sworn into the Senate on July 20, 2010. During his tenure, he quickly joined with fellow Democrats to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, an effort that had previously been blocked by a Republican filibuster, and he voted to confirm Elena Kagan as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Observers widely viewed Goodwin as a placeholder for Manchin, who subsequently ran in and won the special election to complete Byrd’s term. Goodwin’s term expired on November 15, 2010, when Manchin was sworn in as senator.

During his short service in Congress in 2010, Goodwin served on several Senate committees and subcommittees. He was a member of the Committee on Armed Services, serving on the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, and the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. He also served on the Committee on the Budget. On the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, he sat on the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety and the Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging. In addition, he was a member of the Committee on Rules and Administration. His work on these committees placed him at the center of deliberations on national security, fiscal policy, labor and health issues, and the internal governance of the Senate during a period marked by economic recovery efforts and ongoing overseas military commitments.

After leaving the Senate, Goodwin joined the regional law firm Frost Brown Todd, where he became member-in-charge of the firm’s Charleston, West Virginia, office and vice chair of its national Appellate Practice Group. As of June 2023, he remains a partner at the firm, focusing on complex litigation and appellate matters. In 2008, prior to his Senate service, he had been named one of the “Ten Most Successful Young Executives in West Virginia” by Executive magazine, and in 2010 Time magazine recognized him as one of the rising stars of American politics under 40 in its “40 Under 40” list, underscoring his prominence in both legal and political circles.

Goodwin’s federal public service continued after his Senate tenure. In 2011, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed him to a two-year term as a commissioner on the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an advisory body that reports to Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. He was reappointed to the commission multiple times, serving continuously from 2011 to 2021, and he was again reappointed in 2023. In 2021, when Judge Robert Bruce King announced plans to assume senior status on the Fourth Circuit, reports indicated that King preferred to have Goodwin, his former clerk, succeed him and was displeased that the White House was considering a different nominee; King later rescinded his plans to take senior status. Goodwin was also mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed Senator Jay Rockefeller when Rockefeller chose not to run for re-election in 2014, but Goodwin publicly stated he had no intention of running, citing family considerations.

Goodwin is married to Rochelle Goodwin, who served as state director for U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. The couple has two children, a son named Wesley and a daughter named Anna. Through his legal practice, public service, and continued involvement in national security and judicial issues, Goodwin has remained an influential figure in West Virginia and in national policy circles beyond his brief but notable tenure in the United States Senate.