Seeking political cover in a state Donald Trump won easily in 2016, one Democratic senator is calling for a lighter punishment for the president.

Senator Joe Manchin III hails from Trump-friendly West Virginia and has been among a small handful of Senate Democrats who have said they are open to voting with Republicans on Wednesday to acquit President Trump on charges of abusing his office and stonewalling Congress.

Mr Manchin signalled Monday he could be poised to do just that -- but also try pleasing Democratic voters back home by pushing his colleagues to censure Mr Trump over his actions towards Ukraine.

The coming votes on the House-passed impeachment articles poses political risks for some moderate Republican and Democratic senators who represent states where the electorate is not merely red or blue.

For instance, Maine GOP Senator Susan Collins faces a tough re-election fight. She voted on Friday with Democrats on motions to call witnesses in the now-concluded Senate trial. All those motions failed.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

The West Virginia Democrat rolled out a censure resolution that states Mr Trump’s actions were an “attempt to compel a foreign nation to interfere with domestic political affairs for his own personal benefit” and that he “wrongfully enlisted his personal lawyer to investigate a domestic political rival by meddling in formal diplomatic relations.”

Mr Manchin’s measure also states the president “hindered the thorough investigation of related documents and prohibited Congress and the American people from hearing testimony by firsthand witnesses with direct knowledge of his conduct.”