Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Sunday called on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to not run for president as a third-party candidate, saying that such a move would “mar his legacy.”
“My message to Joe Manchin is I thank him for his service. I think he’s had a career of distinguished service,” Moore told ABC This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “I would urge him not to mar his legacy by getting involved in something so foolish,” Moore said, despite recent polls showing President Joe Biden’s tanking approval ratings among even Democratic voters.
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Manchin announced Thursday he would not seek reelection but will remain in politics to “fight to unite the middle,” fueling speculation that he may join the group No Labels as it considers pushing a bipartisan “unity” ticket for the 2024 election.
The centrist Democratic senator from West Virginia has not ruled out a presidential bid, saying as far back as July that “Nothing is off the table” for his political future.
Moore bashed the dark money-funded No Labels group in his interview with Karl, arguing it “has no policy platform.”
“They don’t even have a candidate,” Moore added.
Speculation over Manchin’s third-party ticket for 2024 comes amid an already crowded field of third-party bids, including from Cornel West, Jill Stein, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Moore said he thinks the growing number of options shouldn’t matter to Biden’s reelection prospects, saying he thinks the president will convince the nation to come home to him when voters cast their ballots on Nov. 5, 2024.
“It’s one thing to say we’re going to rail against the system, and it’s another thing to actually work to make systems better. That’s what I think President Biden has continued to show,” Moore said, adding that Biden has achieved “real, productive results for the people of this country.”
Moore’s Republican predecessor, former Gov. Larry Hogan, had a similar sentiment over Manchin’s potential Oval Office bid during a talk on CNN’s State of the Union, saying he wasn’t sure if the West Virginia Democrat would even run for president.
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Hogan has also been floated as a potential selection for No Labels, but he suggested neither he nor Manchin would seek higher office if the bar for victory would be too high to ascend. “I think Joe Manchin, and I, and others have said over and over again that we would not do this to be a spoiler,” Hogan said. “We’d only be in it to win it.”
Biden has two other Democratic opponents in author Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), as they all seek the party’s nomination ahead of the 2024 election.
