Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) dodged questions on whether he would consider leaving the Democratic Party on Sunday.
Manchin, once one of the two centrist Democrats in the Senate alongside Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), is now the sole centrist following Sinema’s recent announcement that she was registering as an independent. In an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation, moderator Margaret Brennan asked Manchin if he would follow Sinema’s lead.
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“If people are trying to stop something from doing so much good because of politics, thinking somebody else will get credit for it, let’s see how that plays out. And then I’ll let you know later what I decide to do,” Manchin said.
“Do you see an advantage in this environment to becoming unaffiliated, to becoming an independent?” @margbrennan asks Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
“I’ll let you know later what I decide to do, but right now I have no intentions of changing anything,” Manchin says. pic.twitter.com/smbJCuTpl1
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 18, 2022
“[The Democrats] know how independent I am,” he added. “The ‘D’ does not saddle me to ‘everything the Democrats want to do is right.’ I don’t think the Democrats have all the answers. I don’t think the Republicans are always wrong.”
His latest statement echoes that of last week, when he said he has no intentions of leaving the party but wouldn’t rule it out. He also said that he “tremendously” respected Sinema’s decision to leave the party.
Sinema’s departure announcement came almost immediately after the Democrats won a 51-49 majority in the Senate, dampening the party’s enthusiasm.
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Manchin also has not said whether he will run for a fourth term in the Senate in 2024.
