Following the announcement on Sunday by President Joe Biden that he would be ending his reelection campaign, Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) is thinking about reregistering as a Democrat and seeking the party’s presidential nomination.
Manchin has previously thought about running for president as a third party, but he is now thinking about running for the Democratic nomination, a person with knowledge of Manchin’s plans told the Washington Examiner.
Before Biden announced he was dropping his candidacy, the West Virginia senator, who had previously registered as a Democrat but changed his registration to an independent earlier this year, urged Biden to “give the torch to the new generation” on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
In response to a question about how Biden would “hand the torch” at the State of the Union, Manchin stated on the network that it should be an “open process.”
“I believe that there is a great deal of ability and decent people on the bench, and I have a bias against governors because they cannot afford to be biased. That bridge or that pothole doesn’t have a D or an R on it, so they can’t afford to be simply political, Manchin said on CNN.
He said, “I have two amazing governors right next door: Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania and Andy Beshear in Kentucky, who are leading legislatures that are either equally divided or entirely opposed to their party.” “They haven’t separated their states. You are not required to choose a side and vilify the opposing viewpoint. They have facilitated interpersonal relationships. I believe this is what an open procedure would accomplish. More individuals would participate in the process, potentially leading to the return of Democrats like myself.
The moderate senator from the United States, Joe Manchin, refused to run for reelection in November but hasn’t officially ruled out seeking public office again.
Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic nominee for president, and Biden supports her. While a number of prominent Democrats, including Biden, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Bill and Hillary Clinton, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), have backed Harris, other Democrats, such as former President Barack Obama, have not.
Since then-President Lyndon B. Johnson did so in 1968, Biden is the only sitting president to decide against running for a second term. Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president, was the Democratic nominee but lost to previous vice president Richard Nixon.
Less than a month before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, there is uncertainty among the Democratic Party ticket. The dates of the convention are August 19–22.
