Sen. Joe Manchin III (I-W.Va.) is considering re-registering as a Democrat to compete for the party\u2019s presidential nomination in the wake of President Biden\u2019s announcement Sunday that he will exit the campaign, according to a Manchin adviser.<\/p>\n
The adviser, Jonathan Kott, declined to share more details about Manchin\u2019s plans at this stage. Manchin was the first elected official to signal an openness to challenging Vice President Harris in the wake of Biden\u2019s announcement after the president endorsed Harris, as did some members of the Democratic establishment.<\/p>\n
Manchin, who will turn 77 next month, left the Democratic Party in May to register as an independent. The then-Democrat from a red state, who irked some of his fellow Democrats by cutting deals with Republicans, announced in the fall that he would not seek reelection to his Senate seat at the end of his term, hampering Democratic hopes of holding on to their Senate majority in 2024.<\/p>\n
Previously, Manchin had flirted with mounting a third-party presidential campaign this cycle as some Democrats, even before Biden\u2019s halting June 27 debate performance, worried about the lack of enthusiasm for the president among a broad swath of Democratic voters. But in February, Manchin said he would \u201cnot be involved in a presidential run\u201d as he did not want to be a \u201cspoiler\u201d in a race then presumed to be between Biden and former president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right time,\u201d Manchin said then. \u201cDemocracy is at stake right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another long-shot candidate also announced her intention Sunday night to vie for delegates at next month\u2019s Democratic National Convention, where the Democratic nomination will be settled.<\/p>\n
Marianne Williamson, a self-help author and motivational speaker who unsuccessfully ran for the 2020 and 2024 Democratic presidential nominations, also announced she would compete for the spot (after previously exiting the race and reentering).<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to taking my message to the American people, and convincing Democratic delegates, that I am the best candidate to take us to victory in November,\u201d she wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Manchin has long been a thorn in Democrats\u2019 side, even as he also helped deliver Biden some of his signature policy achievements, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which included many sweeping climate change measures. (Manchin renamed that bill before finally supporting it.) The moderate has also clashed with Biden over energy policy and other matters, but has said he could not vote for Trump.<\/p>\n
Manchin\u2019s reported consideration of a presidential bid was in sharp contrast to dozens of Democratic lawmakers who rushed Sunday to endorse Harris for the top of the Democratic ticket. Several Democratic governors who had been floated as possible candidates, in the event of a vacancy on the ticket, also endorsed Harris.<\/p>\n
In an interview Sunday morning with CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation,\u201d before Biden\u2019s exit from the race, Manchin said he would not run for a spot on the Democratic ticket.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, this is a new generation, Margaret,\u201d he told moderator Margaret Brennan. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of deep people on the bench to conserve, and they have proven their mettle by being in an executive position. Give them a chance to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another interview on Sunday morning, this time with CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union,\u201d Manchin said he favored an \u201copen process\u201d to determine a replacement for Biden, who at that point had not yet made his announcement.<\/p>\n
Manchin said an open process, rather than handpicking a successor, would be the best way to showcase to voters the deep bench of talent in the Democratic Party. He mentioned two Democratic governors, Kentucky\u2019s Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania\u2019s Josh Shapiro, as strong potential candidates, but did not mention Harris.<\/p>\n
Both governors, Manchin said, \u201care operating with legislatures either evenly split or completely opposite their party affiliation. They haven\u2019t divided their state. They haven\u2019t made you pick a side and demonize the other side. They\u2019ve brought people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manchin said Trump\u2019s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), may appeal to voters in Manchin\u2019s home state who feel left behind by the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he has enough of a flavor there and everything,\u201d Manchin said. \u201cI grew up in another era of Appalachia, but I can see it. I\u2019ve watched my state change like no other state for 80 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Douglas MacMillan contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sen. Joe Manchin III (I-W.Va.) is considering re-registering as a Democrat to compete for the party\u2019s presidential nomination in the wake of President Biden\u2019s announcement Sunday that he will exit the campaign, according to a Manchin adviser. The adviser, Jonathan Kott, declined to share more details about Manchin\u2019s plans at this stage. Manchin was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}