Will he or won’t he?
A few weeks ago, retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) made people think he would eventually launch a third-party presidential campaign.
But on a recent radio broadcast, Manchin threw some cold water on the idea. Only some. From West Virginia Metro News:
“I’ve been invited to different areas up in different battleground states, just to be able to speak to different groups and if I can get them what you should be looking for,” Manchin said on “Watchdog Radio” in the Wheeling area.“I know that a third-party candidate, myself or anyone else who wants to jump into that fray is really a long shot. But if you can get a movement to where you can move the two established parties, the Democrat and Republican, back to where their roots are, where they’ve come from and what they’ve been able to produce over all these years, they can get back to some normality.”
Manchin is a moderate. He’s teased before about leaving the Democrats and becoming an Independent. Fellow moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) became an independent.
The Intercept reported that Manchin and his daughter Heather Bresch have been testing the waters with a new nonprofit, targeting wealthy donors regarding a third-party run.
Some of Manchin’s longtime associates have taken the helm of the nonprofit:
Bresch, a former pharmaceutical executive, registered Americans Together in July as a 501(c)(4), a legal classification that means it is not required to publicly disclose its donors. While the senator’s daughter has said the organization will be set apart from Manchin’s political endeavors, few restrictions exist on how it can spend its money. Should Manchin run for president on the No Labels ticket, Americans Together could work to boost his candidacy or oppose other presidential campaigns through what’s known as an independent expenditure. But the nonprofit could also provide Manchin a financial cushion with few spending restrictions should he leave politics altogether.
In the same interview, Manchin voiced his support for term limits.
Manchin suggested two six-year terms for the Senate and two six-year terms for the House.
Manchin has a point. Once Election Day ends, you worry about the next election right away:
“I’ve never been a big supporter of term limits because I thought, there’s so many good people with so much experience to really be helpful. But I don’t know if that’s the fact any more so I’ve said, hey, wouldn’t it be great if we had one 18-year term for the Supreme Court? One 18-year term, that’s it. One six-year term for the president so you don’t have to worry about re-election. Don’t worry about getting re-elected; just get in there and do the right thing.”—“That would be more than enough,” he said. “How are you going to change the root problem if you’ve got out of 435 congressional districts, 390 are not competitive. This is already cooked. The Democrat or Republican is going to win those.”
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