Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday that he has registered as an independent, raising questions about his political plans as the move could improve his chances if he runs for office again in a State became strongly Republican.
The 76-year-old Mr. Manchin has often been at odds with the Democratic Party and an obstacle to many of President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities. But he played a pivotal role in helping Mr. Biden push a landmark climate change and health care bill across the finish line in 2022.
He previously announced in November that he would not seek re-election to the Senate, giving Republicans a clear path to winning his West Virginia seat in their bid to regain the majority next year.
Joe Manchin has been a member of the Senate since 2010 and is Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He said in a statement that over the past 15 years he has seen both major political parties abandon their voters for “partisan extremism, while putting our democracy at risk.”
“Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground,” said Senator Manchin. To stay true to myself and commit to putting country before party, I have decided to register as an independent with no party affiliation and continue to fight for the sane majority of the ‘America. »
Several options open
Mr. Manchin will continue to participate in the Democratic caucus and will retain his committee chairmanship, according to a source close to him. The move helps Democrats maintain their slim 51-49 majority in the Senate.
Yet, facing a possible retirement from politics, Joe Manchin appears to be keeping other options open.
He has long wanted to change his political affiliation to become independent, according to a second person familiar with the matter. But a looming deadline in West Virginia has forced the debate.
Candidates must file their party affiliation 60 days before the Aug. 1 deadline to run in this year’s election.
Now registered as an independent, Joe Manchin still has time to mount another Senate run or a possible run for governor, a position he held from 2005 to 2010.
He has already defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, once before, in 2018. This Senate campaign was the toughest for Senator Manchin in more than three decades spent in West Virginia politics. He beat Mr. Morrisey by just over 3 percentage points.
Steve Williams, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and mayor of Huntington, said last week that he did not believe Joe Manchin had any intention of entering the gubernatorial race, adding that they had been friends since decades.
West Virginia Democratic Party officials said Friday that Mr. Manchin did not warn them that he was becoming an independent. In a statement Friday, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin said he was disappointed.
“Although the senator has been one of the most independent senators in the country and has at times opposed the Democratic agenda, we will always be grateful to him for his votes to impeach President Trump, to create the Commission of January 6 and for his warning that, if re-elected, Trump will ‘destroy democracy in America,'” he said.
Joe Manchin, the latest in a line of powerful Democratic senators from West Virginia who have championed coal interests on the national stage, has increasingly deplored the two-party system over the past year. During a tour of a Charleston stamping plant in October, he said he identified more with independents than with either party.