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Shelly Moore Capito (born Shelley Moore on November 26, 1953, in Glen Dale, West Virginia) is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from West Virginia since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she previously represented West Virginia's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015. Capito comes from a prominent political family; her father, Arch Alfred Moore Jr., was a three-term governor of West Virginia and a U.S. Representative. Before entering politics, she worked in banking and community service, including roles at the National Bank of Commerce and as a stay-at-home mother. Capito's early career involved volunteer work and local involvement, leading to her election to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1996, where she served until 2000.
In Congress, Capito established herself as a moderate Republican, focusing on energy policy, environmental issues, and health care. She chaired the House Republican Conference from 2011 to 2013 and has been a key voice on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. As a Republican leader on energy and health policy, she has advocated for coal industry interests in West Virginia while supporting bipartisan efforts on opioid crisis response and infrastructure. Capito briefly met with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, briefing him on legislative matters. Her tenure has included criticism for her stances on environmental regulations and support for certain Trump administration policies, though she has occasionally broken with party lines on issues like the Affordable Care Act.