Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) could be the wild card in this year’s presidential election if he chooses to enter the race as a third-party candidate and he seems to be inching closer to jumping in.
The moderate Democrat has made no secret of his distaste for the left-wing policies of the Biden administration, especially when it comes to the alleged climate crisis, and he told CNN that he “absolutely” could see himself in the White House.
According to the outlet, Manchin described Biden as a “good, decent man” but is concerned about another four years for the elderly career politician whose staff is dominated by what he called a group of “far, far-left liberals.”
The senator took credit for shaping “everything” in Biden’s agenda, telling CNN that the U.S. would be in a worse situation if not for his leveraging of the razor-thin Democrat Senate to “force Biden to do things his way,” according to the outlet.
“The way it was presented and the way it ended up are two different things,” Manchin said.
He also played up the fear that letting democracy play out would put Trump back in the White House, calling the prospect of a second term for the GOP frontrunner “very much concerning to every human being and every person who basically loves the country that we have, and the life that we have, and trying to have a future for our children and future generations.”
Like many others, Manchin is concerned that Biden’s dismal poll numbers are a sign that he could lose the election to the former president.
According to CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere, if Manchin decides to run, he would want to do so using the ballot spots secured by the centrist “No Labels” group which has drawn fierce criticism from Biden loyalists who are jittery that an organized third party effort could be the final nail in the deeply unpopular octogenarian Democrat’s political coffin.
The group has been advocating for a “unity” ticket but has so far been unable to field a candidate with the sort of national name recognition that could sway voters with the one name continuing to come up being former Republican Maryland governor Larry Hogan, a man beloved by the media but unlikely inspire Americans outside of television studios.
Manchin’s name has often been mentioned as a potential candidate for the group which has expressed its admiration for him.
“Senator Joe Manchin is a tireless voice for America’s commonsense majority and a longtime ally of the No Labels movement. The Senate will lose a great leader when he leaves, but we commend Senator Manchin for stepping up to lead a long overdue national conversation about solving America’s biggest challenges, including inflation, an insecure border, out-of-control debt and growing threats from abroad,” the group said in a November statement after Manchin announced that he would not be seeking another Senate term.
“Super Tuesday pretty much confirms whatever is going to happen, what we believe will happen, and we’ll see where we go from there,” Manchin told reporters on the day of New Hampshire’s primary.
“But people are looking for options, and we’re going to be looking at that, too. Whether it’s me or whoever it may be, I think there’s going to be options available if it goes down the way it’s going down,” he said.
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