Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he has been “thinking seriously” about becoming an independent before the 2024 election in a local radio interview on Thursday, one of the strongest statements he has said to date about potentially leaving the Democratic Party.
“I would think very seriously about that. I’ve been thinking about that for quite some time. I haven’t made any decisions,” Manchin told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval. “I want to make sure that my voice is truly an independent voice.”
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Manchin has been in no hurry to announce his plans for 2024, keeping the political world on the edge of their seats for the foreseeable future. The three-term senator has publicly flirted with running for president in 2024, including a third-party run with No Labels.
“The brand has become so bad — the D brand and R brand. In West Virginia, the D brand because it’s [the] national brand. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia, it’s the Democrats in Washington,” Manchin explained. “You’ve heard me say a million times I’m not a Washington Democrat.”
The West Virginia Senate race will be one of the most closely watched in the country if Manchin decides to run. Manchin has held the seat since 2010, repeatedly defeating Republican opponents in what has become a deep red state. Yet Republican strategists see West Virginia as a prime pickup opportunity this cycle. The senior senator from West Virginia faces a tough path to victory in a state that former President Donald Trump carried with 68% of the vote in 2016 and 29% in 2020.
A recent poll by East Carolina University Center for Survey Research in May showed Manchin losing to Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) by 22 points in a potential Senate matchup. Justice first must face off against Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) in the GOP primary race.
If Manchin became an independent and caucused with Democrats, the chamber would still have a 51-49 Democratic majority. If he decided to leave the party and not caucus with Democrats, he would lose his chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“When I do speak, I want to be able to speak honestly about basically the extremes of the Democrat and Republican Party that’s harming our nation,” Manchin said during the interview.
Over the past two years, the senator has at times proven to be a thorn in the Biden administration’s side by crossing party lines to oppose legislation or block White House appointees. He has also continually opposed efforts to eliminate the filibuster, which would make it easier for Democrats to pass legislation. He blocked Biden’s “Build Back Better” social spending agenda but ultimately agreed to a more limited deal, the Inflation Reduction Act, that included new spending on climate and healthcare as well as tax increases on companies.
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He has since repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for the Inflation Reduction Act. While he has frustrated progressives' most ambitious priorities, Manchin is the last Democrat standing in high office in West Virginia and is nonetheless a crucial vote in the Senate for party leadership.
If Manchin were to become an independent, he would join fellow centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who announced she was leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent in December of 2022. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME) also serve as independents in the Senate, but both caucus with Democrats.