We’ve written before about how West Virginia Dem Sen. Joe Manchin and the state’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice have been extremely cagey when it comes to questions surrounding their 2024 Senate intentions.

Justice indicated at the end of February that he’d have an answer to the question after March 11, which was the end of the West Virginia legislative session. So an announcement from him on if he’s running for Senate could be imminent.

Manchin stated in an early March interview that he won’t announce anything until the end of the year, and not only would he not endorse President Joe Biden in that same interview but he also wouldn’t rule out a potential presidential run of his own.

All of that, plus other moves Manchin has made in recent weeks (including declining to identify as a Democrat) suggest a man who has already made a decision about his political future who is biding his time until he figures out the right time to strike:

Sen. Joe Manchin III has been distancing himself from President Biden ahead of a possible run as a Democrat in solid red West Virginia even as he plays coy with his reelection intentions.

He has opposed a series of the president’s nominees, is backing GOP efforts to dismantle Mr. Biden’s regulatory agenda and is in a bitter fight with the administration over the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act that he helped write and pass in a party-line vote.

[…]

These days, Mr. Manchin has opposed three nominees in recent weeks, successfully tanking Gigi Sohn’s bid to join the Federal Communications Commission and blocking Interior Department nominee Laura Daniel-Davis with his perch atop the Senate Energy Committee.

It sounds like Manchin is trying to make nice with the West Virginia

Related: House Democrat Blurts out an Uncomfortable Truth About Joe Biden During Interview