Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) has signaled he will vote for Joe Biden in November’s election, despite leaving the Democratic Party to register as an independent, as he ruled out backing Donald Trump at the ballot box.
Last November, the West Virginia senator announced he would quit the party and not seek a third term in 2024, with some speculating it could pave the way for a run as governor of the GOP-dominated state this fall.
On Tuesday, Manchin was quizzed by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on whether he would still vote for Biden despite the split from the party and often being at odds with the Democratic Party agenda.
It came during a discussion where Manchin argued his party had abandoned its traditional base in West Virginia, contending “we’re not good enough, clean enough, bright enough, smart enough” for the direction the Democratic Party is heading.
Manchin has been critical of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which provides more than $369 billion in clean energy incentives. The senator has labeled the policy a “radical climate agenda” that threatens West Virginia’s coal mining industry.
But he told Ruhle that Biden took his concerns “to heart.” Asked by the broadcaster whether he would vote for Biden in November, Manchin referenced the president’s decadeslong reputation as a political centrist. He said: “I’m going to be voting. I’m trying to bring my buddy back to the middle.”
Pressed again for an answer by Ruhle, Manchin said he loves his country “too much to vote for Donald Trump,” and the former president’s refusal to engage in an orderly transfer of power and his undermining of the judicial system is “more than I can take.”
“But, with that, I think those of us who’ve known Joe Biden for a long time would like to see the Joe Biden we have known,” Manchin added.
Manchin, who has served in the Senate since 2010, said in a statement when he left the Democrats that both major parties had left their constituents behind “for partisan extremism while jeopardizing our democracy.”
The senator has continued to caucus with Democrats in the Senate, where they hold a slim majority. But he’s also retooled his leadership political action committee to donate funds to centrist lawmakers, including Republicans.
