U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said he has been thinking “seriously” about leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent. The West Virginia lawmaker has been a swing vote on major spending packages in the closely divided U.S. Senate.
The comments from Manchin on Thursday are the most serious he’s made about a possible switch to independent.
“For me, I have to have peace of mind basically,” he said. “The brand has become so bad. The ‘D’ brand and ‘R’ brand. In West Virginia, the ‘D’ brand because it’s nationally bad. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia. It’s the Democrats in Washington or the Washington policies of the Democrats. You’ve heard me say a million times that I’m not a Washington Democrat.”
In the Democratic caucus, his colleagues over the past few years have grown weary of Manchin, whose vote is one of two they cannot live without in a 51-49 Senate — but whose nearly constant chides at many in party, particularly Democratic President Joe Biden has left them concerned that he could switch parties and take away their slim hold on power.
One of his most stunning rebukes of his party came in December 2021 when after months of painstaking negotiations directly with the White House, Manchin pulled his support from aMonths later, in a shocking turn of events, Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer crafted ato ultimately pass and sign into law a modest domestic bill focused on healthcare and combating climate change.
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