Earlier this week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) once again did a round of Sunday show appearances, which means the inevitable was asked as it pertains to his plans for 2024. Manchin, whose Senate seat may be the best opportunity Republicans have for a pick-up next year, has not yet declared he's running for reelection. He may even run for president, in fact. As Manchin put it about a presidential run, he's "not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out."
While on "Fox News Sunday," Manchin was asked by host Shannon Bream about the No Labels group including the senator at the top of their list for third-party candidates. A headline from last month by The New York Times has warned "Democrats Are Alarmed."
In response to Bream asking "you have not ruled it off and taken it off the table, is a third-party run still in the realm of possibilities," Manchin sang the group's praises while promoting a middle position. He did say "it's always what I believe," and "that is where you make the decisions," when it comes to listening to both the left and the right, but it took further prodding from Bream to get anything close to a definitive answer about a third-party run.
"You better have Plan B. because if Plan A shows that we’re going to the far reaches of both sides, the far left and the far right, and that people don’t want to go to the far left and the far right, they want to be governed from the middle. I think there is, that you better have that Plan B available and ready to go," Manchin told Bream. It took even further prodding before he also offered "I’m not saying who’s it going to include or exclude," when asked if that could include him. "I’m saying you better have Plan B ready," which is "what it’s going to take for this country to remain the superpower of the world to give confidence to people around the world that the reserve currency should be the U.S. dollar."
To conclude the interview, Manchin after a long pause said he's "not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out," though Bream hopes he'll make his announcement on "Fox News Sunday" when he's ready to do so.
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin — among the most unpopular senators in America — still won't rule out running for president because "you better have that 'plan B' available and ready to go." pic.twitter.com/18ntCJMjR6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 4, 2023
Manchin had said during an early April appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that he wouldn't be announcing his plans until "the end of the year."
The senator also appeared on "Meet the Press" this week as well, during which he wasn't exactly singing Joe Biden's praises when asked if the president deserved credit for the debt ceiling plan that Manchin vocally supported, especially when it comes to the permitting reforms he got out of it.
"I give everybody credit. I think you said it well. I've been listening to what you've been saying," Manchin said, also offering that "both sides had to come together," though it was House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) he praised first. "I think that I give Kevin McCarthy and his team a tremendous amount of credit for doing what people thought he couldn't do. He got a bill out of the House, sent it over to the Senate, got things started. President Biden did what he must do, and what he does, and can do best is bring people together, use this bipartisanship," he offered.
When discussing how Manchin has yet to declare if he's running for reelection, host Chuck Todd brought up reporting from POLITICO about how Manchin helped make the deal happen, including how the senator seems to believe not yet disclosing his plans for 2024 contributed to that.
Manchin then offered what he himself brings to the table, and mentioned what it is he's not worried about. "My purpose is, is to have progressive movements to where we're doing something, that helps the economy, that helps the people, helps security. I don't put, I don’t put politics in front. A lot of people do. It's about politics. Mine's about policy and basically performing for my country and my state," Manchin said. "So I'm not going to be worried about polls and all this other stuff when I have a purpose to perform. I've got to perform."
Todd also brought up his Senate seat by asking if "getting this pipeline, does this make you feel as if you now have a case for reelection that you can make that might be able to win?"
Manchin responded by emphasized that getting permitting reforms was "a tremendous win" and that it "basically gives West Virginia tremendous opportunity to provide the energy security our nation needs." Trying to further sell his accomplishments, Manchin also mentioned "I've taken all the bullets, you know that. I've taken all the spears on this. And the bottom line is we've got it accomplished."
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin — who routinely sells out West Virginians for his own interests — claims he's "gonna win" if he decides to run for re-election. pic.twitter.com/bsQViREZc5
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 4, 2023
When Manchin was asked about the No Labels group, he delved further into the issue of going too left or too right. And it was Biden who was a major target.
"It's notable that you're not ready to sign off that Joe Biden's been moving to the middle," Todd pointed out. "You don't buy it?"
"Well, this, this here, I think Joe Biden, that's his inherent--who he is. He's been pushed to the far left. And that far left is not, basically, where the country is. And the far right is not where the country is. Coming back to the middle, then, we can continue to bring people to the middle and do our job."
Although Manchin claims he's "not going to be worried about polls," he perhaps should be. As Guy highlighted last week, a poll conducted last month from East Carolina University showed Manchin with 32 percent support among registered West Virginia voters, while Gov. Jim Justice has 54 percent. The state's Republican governor declared at the end of April he is running.
A Morning Consult poll from earlier this year showed that Manchin is one of the most unpopular senators in the country, while Justice is one of the most popular governors in the country.
Speaking on CNN on Monday, senior Democratic strategist David Axelrod pointed out that "Manchin is "kind of dead man walking in West Virginia" and that "there’s nowhere for him to go," especially given how handily the state voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
"He didn’t win by very much last time. So he knows that he can’t win reelection in that state," Axelrod continued. Manchin beat Republican Patrick Morrisey by 3.3 points in 2018. Axelrod also proposed that running for president could be "a graceful exit for him."
In response, a Manchin spokesperson emphasized to Fox News that the senator's concerns were on West Virginia. "This is a funny comment about polls since the same smart pollsters said Barack Obama’s poll numbers proved he had no chance against Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump could never win the first election, and Republicans would win huge in 2022. Senator Manchin’s focus is on doing the best job for West Virginia and the American people. The only poll that matters is the one on Election Day," the spokesperson said.
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