Sen. Joe Manchin, a longtime Democrat from West Virginia, announced he has left his party to become an independent.
“My commitment to do everything I can to bring our country together has led me to register as an independent with no party affiliation,” Manchin said Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In a video message, he relayed his reasons. “I can speak to both sides without having a brand, if you will. The brands have gotten so bad. If you have a D by your name, a Democrat, you’re supposed to hate Republicans.”
“We need to come together as a country, making sure that both parties have opportunities to bring the best ideas to fix the problems that we all face. We can do that, but only as one country,” he added. “The American brand is the brand that I carry the proudest and I will always do that.”
It’s unclear what Manchin’s political plans are. As The Associated Press reported, the deadline for candidates in West Virginia to submit their party affiliations is Aug. 1. Whether he plans to run for U.S. Senate or governor, he now has an advantage in a red state.
In the recent months, Manchin floated he was considering launching a presidential campaign as an independent. But the idea never came to fruition.
Sen. Joe Manchin and the fracturing middle
Manchin’s latest move has been months in the making. In August 2023, he said he was “very seriously” considering switching his party as both sides become more polarized.
“The bottom line is — will the middle speak up? Does the middle have a voice? If we can create a movement that people understand … we could make a big, big splash and maybe bring the traditional parties — the Democratic and Republican Party, back to what they should be today,” Manchin told a radio host, as the Deseret News reported.
Manchin’s announcement coincides with many other moderate senators bowing out of running for reelection or facing an uphill battle to victory. The middle lane in Congress has been shrinking for decades, political science professor Michael Lyons at Utah State University told the Deseret News in December.
“Moderates often struggle to win party nominations because primary election turnout is low, with motivated, highly ideological voters becoming dominant by default,” he said. “Additionally, population movement has made many states far more homogeneous ideologically.”
He said only five states have “split” Senate delegations but “from 1973 to 1994, there were never fewer than 20 such delegations.”
Manchin has regularly worked with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, including on legislation like the infrastructure bill and pandemic-era relief, as well as Arizona independent Kyrsten Sinema, who said in March she isn’t seeking reelection.
Following Romney’s retirement news in September, Manchin too, announced he isn’t running for reelection. Both their terms end in 2025. At the time, Romney said of his colleague in a post on X that he will miss the “American patriot in the Senate,” but noted that their friendship and commitment to American values will continue.
Manchin hasn’t said whether he will continue caucusing with Democrats, who control the Senate. He would have to be in agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to keep his current committee assignments, and chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as per Associated Press’ report.
A Deseret News opinion article Wednesday detailed that Manchin, Romney and Sinema’s exits leaves the filibuster on unstable grounds. This is a tool used to block the passage of a bill through debate to force compromise.
Source Agencies
