When Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced earlier this month that he would not seek reelection, it was clear he didn’t intend to fade into the sunset. In his retirement video, he said he’ll be traveling the country “to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.”
Then, speaking to radio host John Catsimatidis, the West Virginia Democrat acknowledged he would not be able to change Washington “from within.”
Even more explicitly, he told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker that he’d "absolutely" consider running for president, noting that he’d “do anything” he could to help America.
But how do some of his Senate colleagues feel about the possibility that Manchin could launch a third-party bid?
Realizing a run from Manchin could cut into Biden’s reelection chances, they’re not too keen on the idea. (Manchin, for his part, doesn’t “buy that scenario.”)
“I think it would be very, very unfortunate if Joe Manchin decided to do that,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said, according to The Hill. “I know he’s a supporter of President Biden and has been an important person here in the U.S. Senate in terms of getting things done. And he knows that if he were to step in [to the race] that it would make it much more likely Donald Trump would be president again, and I know Joe Manchin doesn’t want that.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), meanwhile, told The Hill he is “deeply disappointed that he is still even talking about a possible run that would undermine Joe Biden.
“The simple stark fact is that a Manchin run for president would undercut Joe Biden,” the Democrat added, noting that the idea of another Trump term “is more frightening to me than any other political event in my lifetime.”
Democrat strategist Steve Jardin dismissed the idea that Manchin would get very far even if he did run as a third-party candidate.
“When either Trump or Biden see he’s hurting them more than the other side, they’ll take him down; they’ll go after him,” he said.
“And it’s hard running in a third party. It’s hard to get on the ballot, it’s hard to get traction, because nobody thinks he can win,” Jardin added. “He would face very strong headwinds, so I don’t see how he could even come close to winning a state."
Other Democrat senators seemed unfazed as well.
“I’m not terribly worried about him running as a third-party candidate. If he does, he probably draws more votes from Donald Trump than he does from Joe Biden," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Welker on Sunday.