This week, two longtime Democrats found themselves getting involved as Independents, though for rather different reasons. As Leah covered earlier on Friday, retiring Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is now an Independent. The sense of being an Independent also looks to be affecting embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) as the indicted lawmaker not only refuses to resign, but plans to still run for reelection.
In Manchin's case, even as he's declined to run for reelection or for president, the move is not a surprising one. There's been chatter that he might switch his affiliation for some time now. In a statement, Manchin mentioned many of the same points he's made before, including when it comes to when he shared last November he wasn't running for reelection.
That statement touched upon concerns of "extremism" from both sides. "I have seen both the Democrat and Republican parties leave West Virginia and our country behind for partisan extremism while jeopardizing our democracy," he mentioned. Manchin himself stressed wanting to focus on "bipartisanship." His post noted that "[m]y commitment to do everything I can to bring our country together has led me to register as an independent with no party affiliation."
My commitment to do everything I can to bring our country together has led me to register as an independent with no party affiliation. pic.twitter.com/tvMB2N87AW
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) May 31, 2024
Even if Manchin did run for reelection, he was likely going to be replaced by a Republican. In this case, he's almost certainly to be replaced by Gov. Jim Justice, the Republican nominee for Senate.
It's a move that makes sense for Manchin, even if he doesn't run for political office again. Leah's piece mentioned that while there's been chatter he could run for governor, a position he once held from 2004-2010 as a Democrat before becoming a U.S. senator, he plans to back Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Williams.
When it comes to Manchin's bipartisan streak, there's been plenty of complaints over how he did go along with President Joe Biden, such as supporting the particularly partisan and not quite qualified Xavier Becerra for the position of Health and Human Services Secretary.
He also voted for the so-called and woefully misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Manchin's fellow Democrats got his vote in exchange for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) assuring him they'd get to permitting reforms, though other colleagues, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), warned Manchin would regret that. Sure enough, Manchin asked Schumer to remove permitting reforms from the continuing resolution months later in September 2022, after fellow Democrats refused to go along and Republicans refused to bail him out.
Nevertheless, Manchin has worked with Republicans to go against Biden and his fellow Democrats before, and it was especially noteworthy when it wasn't clear if he was running for reelection or even potentially running for president.
In Manchin's case, the move at least seems to be a principled one, especially since he announced he's becoming an Independent when he has just over seven months left in his term. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), a fellow former Democrat who is often linked with Manchin for their moderate stances, including and especially on keeping the filibuster, announced her switch in December 2022. She too is not running for reelection. Other Independents who caucus with Democrats include Sens. Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, though the latter is often to the left of Democrats.
We also learned this week that embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has gained enough signatures to run for reelection as an Independent, likely facing Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) and a Republican candidate in the November election. This is despite how he's been indicted on federal bribery charges and is on trial alongside his wife, Nadine Menendez.
The New Jersey Globe reported last week that Menendez was circulating signatures to run for a petition, and has since put out more coverage about such a run, such as how he only needs 800 signatures to qualify before the June 4 filing deadline.
On Thursday, NBC News reported that he has indeed collected the necessary signatures, also adding further insight:
Menendez needs 800 signatures by Tuesday to gain ballot access in November and hopes to reach closer to 10,000 signatures by then, said three sources with knowledge of his plans.
One of the sources, who previously worked for Menendez, said Menendez, who is on trial on federal bribery charges, wants the number of signatures to be a “statement” in and of itself, “to show the level of support he still has.”
...
His federal criminal trial just entered its third week and is expected to last at least until July. No law prohibits him from running for federal office even if he is convicted, but he has said his independent run is contingent upon his exoneration.
NBC News has reported that Menendez was considering a run for his Senate seat as an independent and that doing so would allow him to continue to raise money to cover his legal bills, which have already cost him $2 million.
Two people close to Menendez say he has “unfinished business” in Washington and doesn’t want his legacy to end with a criminal trial. “He’s not going down without a fight,” one of them said.
Menendez could file to run as an independent at any time but is likely to wait until Tuesday to submit his signatures because his son, Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., D-N.J., is running for re-election in a competitive primary that will take place the same day, two sources with direct knowledge of his thinking said.
The senior Menendez’s controversial bid could interfere with his son’s re-election efforts, and Menendez Jr. has already been targeted with attack ads related to his father’s case. That’s one of the reasons Menendez decided to run as an independent — so he and his son wouldn’t need to share the same ticket, a person with direct knowledge of his thinking said.
Another reason Menendez wants to gather more signatures than is required is that he expects some of the signatures to be challenged. Under New Jersey law, any voter can sign an independent ballot petition as long as the person hasn’t already signed a petition for one of the two major parties.
Referencing Menendez's Latino background, the report mentions how there's still some support for the embattled senator. In late March, a poll from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill was released showing that Menendez would only enjoy 9 percent support.
That Senate Democrats--save for a very vocal critic in Pennsylvania's John Fetterman--have been dismissive of Menendez remaining in office has been rather noteworthy. This is especially in contrast to how now former Rep. George Santos' fellow House Republicans, including fellow New Yorkers, were quick to throw him under the bus. Santos was expelled from Congress last December. The embattled former congressman was facing federal charges and a damning House Ethics Committee report, though his expulsion was still an unprecedented move. All previously expelled members had been convicted of a crime or fought for the Confederacy.
According to @SenSchumer:
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) May 25, 2024
Justice Alito should recuse himself bc he flew a flag
But Bob Menendez should NOT resign after Egypt bribed him with gold bars pic.twitter.com/Mb0fmZNICh
Among those who voted to expel Santos included Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the son of the senator, as mentioned above in the NBC News report.
Another telling detail about Menendez is as, how as Tim Graham highlighted in a column published with Townhall, a NewsBusters study found that "there was only seven minutes and 56 seconds of Menendez coverage. That's 72 times less than the Trump trial. ABC spent nearly four hours on the Trump trial, but only gave Menendez's trial 23 seconds."