Politics | Joe Manchin 36-Year-Old Will Succeed Robert Byrd Youngest senator Carte Goodwin replaces oldest senator By Nick McMaster Posted Jul 16, 2010 2:26 PM CDT Copied Carte Goodwin, who was West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin's general counsel, at the Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., Tuesday, July 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Bob Bird, File) The US Senate seat occupied by Robert Byrd, who died last month, will be temporarily filled by a former aide to West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, USA Today reports. Carte Goodwin, 36, will occupy the seat until a special election for a successor to serve out Byrd's term, which ends in 2012. Goodwin will be youngest person in the current Senate; Byrd, 92, was the oldest. After Goodwin is seated, Democrats will once again have 60 votes in the Senate, a total expected to relieve the logjam over extending unemployment benefits. Read These Next One wrong step costs teen at Yellowstone. This Fed decision was unlike any other in decades. Murdered couple died "protecting their little girls." Japan issued a tsunami advisory after a huge quake near Russia. Report an error