EXCLUSIVE — Former Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat-turned-independent from West Virginia, wants to see Republicans retain control of the Senate in November “for the simple reason that they have committed to protecting the filibuster.”
In a Saturday phone interview with the Washington Examiner, Manchin said that Republicans were “holding the line” despite the withering pressure they’ve received from President Donald Trump and the conservative grassroots to do away with the 60-vote threshold that forces bipartisan cooperation in the Senate.
Manchin, a lifelong Democrat until he left the party in 2024, stressed that his comments were not about supporting GOP politics, and he offered a qualifier to his statement: If Democrats would commit to preserving the filibuster, he would reconsider.
But Manchin also said that Democrats already “folded” under similar circumstances when they held the majority, noting that he and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema were the only Democrats blocking a vote to sidestep the 60-vote rule for voting rights legislation in 2022.
“I would say, if the Democrats don’t commit themselves to protecting the filibuster, I would be rooting for the Republicans to maintain control of the majority in the Senate,” Manchin said.
“It’s that important,” he added, warning that the Senate would fall into the rank partisanship of the House, which operates by a simple majority, if the filibuster is eliminated. “It’s about my country — it’s not about any political party.”
Notably, Manchin wants to see the House flip to Democrats, seeing it as a check on the White House. Republicans only hold a two-seat margin there, versus their three-seat majority in the 100-member Senate. The Senate battlegrounds up for election are also more favorable for Republicans.
“Well, I think the House is going to go to the Democrats, which I think is just the balance we need,” Manchin said. “So, you’ll have a balance to a certain extent.”
In terms of his involvement in the midterm elections, Manchin said that he would be willing to campaign for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the most endangered Republicans up for reelection, should she ask for his help.
“I’d be there in a heartbeat,” Manchin said, calling Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), both Republican centrists, his “go-to people” when he was serving in the Senate.
“They always look at the problem and not the politics,” he added. “You lose the Susan Collinses of the Senate, you’re gonna lose the purpose and the soul of the Senate.”
Manchin said that he would be contributing to Collins’s campaign.
A small but growing number of Senate Republicans have walked back their support for the filibuster this Congress under pressure from Trump, a fact that has not been lost on Manchin.
In March, he issued a lengthy statement expressing disappointment with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is running for a fifth term in November, for being “willing to scrap the very rule he once praised and personally thanked me for defending.”
Still, Manchin has confidence in Senate GOP leadership and praised Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) for ignoring a blistering pressure campaign to pass the SAVE America Act, a GOP proof-of-citizenship bill that is uniformly opposed by Democrats.
The legislation is at the center of Trump’s calls to eliminate the filibuster, though he’s lobbied for its abolition since his first term. Thune maintains there is still considerable opposition within the conference to eliminating the filibuster, even as the GOP widely supports the measure.
“John Thune has been marvelous,” Manchin said. “Because he’s been in the minority … he knows what goes around, comes around.”
In a swipe at both parties, Manchin said it wasn’t accidental that the current pressure to eliminate the filibuster is centered on an election bill, as it was when Democrats wanted less restrictive voting rules in 2022.
“It’s all about voting bills,” Manchin said. “Both of them want to control the voting. They want to monopolize it. Right now, the parties are destroying the representative form of democracy that we have, because they’re the ones that want to choose who votes for them.”
“Less than 10% of the 435 districts are even competitive,” Manchin added. “My God, how much more of a slam dunk do you want?”
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The Senate is currently holding an open-ended period of debate on the SAVE America Act, but the legislation is expected to fail at the usual 60 votes when leadership eventually calls a vote.
Thune had briefly weighed a workaround known as a “talking filibuster,” which requires Democrats to hold the floor with a marathon of speeches. He ultimately said that, too, lacked the needed GOP votes.
