WV Senator Joe Manchin Teases Idea of Leaving Democrats and Becoming an Independent
“You’ve heard me say a million times I’m not a Washington Democrat”
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia recently revealed to a talk show host that he is considering leaving the Democratic party and becoming an independent ahead of the 2024 election.
The Hill reports:
Manchin ‘thinking seriously’ about leaving Democratic Party
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) says he is “thinking seriously” about leaving the Democratic Party and declaring himself an independent before the 2024 election, when he will have to decide whether to run for a fourth Senate term or wage a third-party bid for president.
Manchin, who earlier this year described himself as an independent Democrat, told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval on Thursday that the Democratic brand has “become so bad.”
“I’m thinking seriously. For me, I have to have peace of mind, basically. The brand has become so bad — the D brand and R brand. In West Virginia, the D brand because it’s [the] national brand. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia, it’s the Democrats in Washington.
“You’ve heard me say a million times I’m not a Washington Democrat,” he said.
Pressed by Kercheval, the host of “Talkline” on West Virginia Metro News, whether he’s really serious about becoming an independent, Manchin said, “I would think very seriously about that.”
Frankly, I don’t understand why Manchin has not already switched parties to become a Republican. The Democratic party’s green agenda is in direct opposition to the most important industry in his state.
Matt Margolis writes at PJ Media:
Manchin added that he’s been thinking about this for a long time, but hasn’t made any decisions. Of course, there have been rumors of Manchin considering leaving the Democratic Party as far back as October of 2021. Manchin dismissed the rumors, saying, “I can’t control rumors, and it’s bull****.” However, he did acknowledge that he’s approached “every day” by Republicans about switching parties and has said that it probably would be “easier” to join the GOP than remain a Democrat.
But he’s not even talking about joining the GOP now. If he leaves the Democratic Party, he’d become an Independent.
This isn’t particularly surprising, because Manchin is likely to lose reelection as a Democrat. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) left the Democratic Party last year but still caucuses with the Democrats. There’s little reason to believe that Manchin wouldn’t do the same.
The only difference is that as an independent, Democrats could run their own candidate in 2024, potentially giving Manchin a shot at winning a three-way race as an independent.
Like most politicians, Manchin is likely to what is best for Manchin.
His constituents deserve a leader who will do what’s best for them.
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Comments
And it will change nothing, he will still be a communist just with an i after his name.
Just like Boinie.
Clueless Joe only schmoozed back in ’18 thanks to a Libertarian spoiler who picked up 4% of the vote. My money says Joe can go independent, but that still won’t save him next year: his likely GOP opponent, Gov. Jim Justice, is up 20 points over Manchin in recent polling.
Maybe. Manchin had a 19,397 vote advantage over he GoP challenger Morrisey. The libertarian candidate, Hollen, received 24,411 votes.
The libertarian vote total did exceed the difference between Manchin and Morrisey. However, it isn’t that simple. First you show that all those libertarian voters would have voted at all in the absence of a libertarian candidate. Then you gotta show they would have voted GoP.
IMO when there’s a libertarian candidate on the ballot the folks likely to vote libertarian are roughly 75 GoP/25 d/prog split in the absence of a libertarian candidate. There’s also the issue of how many would have voted at all w/o a libertarian option. Many libertarians are very similar to Only Trump folks in that they won’t show up to vote unless ‘their guy’ is on the ballot.
As I understand it most studies of the impact of LP candidates show that they pull about equally from Dems and Reps, and in many cases pull more from the Dems than from the Reps. In 2016, for instance, a CBS exit poll apparently found that Johnson pulled only 15% of his voters from Trump, 25% from Clinton, and the other 60% from neither.
Milhouse,
Your breakdown of the vote pattern is probably closer to the reality. This persistent mythology about libertarian voters that they are only GoP spoilers refuses to die no many how many stakes are put through it.
An “independent Dem” is a Dem. A wolf in wolf’s clothing. Nothing sheepish about that.
Lucy will pull the football away once again.
If he does it, it’s only because he can make more money running for President as an independent than he can trying to return to the Senate.
If the definition of a Washington Democrat is corrupt and self interested while pretending to care about voters, Joe is a Democrat through and through.
Sinema has been e-bragging about how she “saved the Grand Canyon, because if anything is worth saving, the Grand Canyon is,” by participating in Biden’s unilateral land grab of the bulk of Northern Arizona that puts it off limits to uranium mining, cattle grazing, and recreational uses. Mojave County is furious, they weren’t even consulted, much less asked for their permission. Sinema is blithe and clueless, actually using her email to solicit state Republicans for $5 attaboys to her “clean elections” fund.
We have enough Democrats, “independent” socialists like Bernie and Krysten, and way more than enough RINOs… we don’t need more.
It doesn’t matter what pin he wears on his suit, inside it he’s still Joe Manchin.
But he’ll still caucus with the dems–BFD.
Yeah, great. Bernie Sanders is also an independent. Big deal.
Well, technically, but he identifies as a “Democratic Socialist”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
It means he ain’t quite ready to admit he’s a communist
It means he his more candid than the rest of his party.
Subotai Bahadur
It simply means a truthful Democrat.
Ooh, that Joe Manchin. What a hunk. What a mensch. Such a man of principle. Ooh, I’swooning.
This guy is a POS in emboldened capital letters.
Right on, bro, right on.
If he switches to Independent, then he’ll be just like Bernie Sanders: an Independent that votes with the Dems. No surprise there.
Joe Biden + coal = Joe Manchin.
What ever became of “Actions speak louder than words”?
The same applies to Spkr. Kevin McCarthy w.r.t. taking action against the Biden Crime Syndicate.
Whatever letter he ends up having placed AFTER his name, be it ‘D’, ‘I’, or ‘R’, I wish the voters of West Virginia would have him place “former senator” BEFORE it.
Manchin’s looking for another payoff.
A desperation play by Joe Manchin. He trails popular republican Governor Jim Justice by 20 points.
I am sick and tired of Joe Manchin. If he is going to run for President, just do it. Now. S**t or get off the pot.
He really needs to reboot. Since he has been crying like a little girl, I suggest he change genders as well.
” …told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval on Thursday …”
Heh — I used to work in broadcast journalism in WV and was familiar with Kerchival’s work.
The moniker “Hoppy” may have been cute back when he was in his 20s, but as a 67-year-old I don’t believe it helps his credibility.
(Which is probably why I migrated to a different career track and Hoppy’s still at it.)
From what I hear here in Virginia from my West Virginia friends, Manchin is disliked in the Mountaineer State. All his political games aren’t going to help him next year. Maybe he should find a buyer for his houseboat in SW DC on the Potomac.