By Joe Biden may not be in a festive mood if Joe Manchin is giving him a “gift” next month.
The West Virginia senator, who has already put the Senate majority in trouble for Democrats after announcing his retirement earlier in the year, has long been rumored as a potential “third way” candidate if the two parties nominate the deeply unpopular Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump in the primaries.
Now, it appears that Manchin will be attending a highly visible political event in New Hampshire next month, one that would be the perfect place to announce his intention to run as a third-party candidate in 2024.
The Washington Examiner writes:
Manchin will speak at the “Politics & Eggs” event hosted by the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Jan. 12, sparking continued speculation that the West Virginia Democrat could be considering a last-minute presidential run next year. Manchin has left the door open to a White House bid, telling CNN last month he is considering a run but has not made a final decision.
Manchin will attend the event to begin his new organization’s national listening tour. The organization, Americans Together, is designed to create a platform for voters in the middle as a way to “build a bridge between popular will and political outcomes.”
Manchin announced last month he would not be running for reelection to the Senate next year, raising eyebrows about what the West Virginia Democrat might do next — all the while reigniting fears among Democrats that his entry into the presidential race could cost President Joe Biden the White House in 2024.
Even if Manchin did run in 2024, it’s not clear whether he would run as an independent candidate or if he’d join forces with some third-party group such as No Labels. The West Virginia Democrat has previously indicated he would only consider a No Labels ticket if it had a viable path to the presidency and had ballot access in all 50 states, noting he would only enter the presidential race if he could win. No Labels has qualified for ballot access in 12 states as of last month.
Manchin has long been a thorn in the side of Biden ever since the president appeared to backstab the West Virginia senator after reneging on promises related to the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that passed only with Manchin’s support.
In March, the senator released a statement referring to Biden’s “Inflation Reducation Act Betrayal.” He wrote, “America is fast approaching another needless emergency—the raising of the national debt ceiling. This impending crisis isn’t an accident but a result of the inaction of various actors who refuse to confront fiscal reality, sit down, negotiate and make hard decisions for the sake of our nation’s future. While all parties have a responsibility to negotiate in good faith, recent actions make clear to me that the Biden administration is determined to pursue an ideological agenda rather than confront the clear and present danger that debts and deficits pose to our nation.
Our national debt stands at nearly $31.5 trillion, or close to $95,000 for every man, woman and child, and represents 120% of our gross domestic product. Annual budgetary deficits have averaged $2.71 trillion since October 2019. Since Covid-19 began, we have added more than $8 trillion to the national debt. Despite explicit direction from Congress to pay down our debt in the Inflation Reduction Act, the administration seems more determined than ever to pervert that law and abuse existing authorities to increase spending.
When President Biden and I spoke before Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act last summer, we agreed that the bill was designed to pay down our national debt and shore up America’s energy security. It was designed to generate $738 billion in new revenue, with more than $238 billion dedicated to debt reduction, the first serious piece of legislation in more than two decades that the Congressional Budget Office estimated would have done that.
Yet instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security. Specifically, they are ignoring the law’s intent to support and expand fossil energy and are redefining “domestic energy” to increase clean-energy spending to potentially deficit-breaking levels. The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed. Ignoring the debt and deficit implications of these actions as the time nears to raise the debt ceiling isn’t only wrong, it’s policy and political malpractice.”
He has long since claimed that only Biden can rein in the radicalism that has enveloped the Democrats since 2020, but that has yet to happen. Earlier in the month, the senator attacked the White House for “allowing supply chain routes to go through China.”
Manchin continued, “I remember waiting in line at the gas station in 1974 after the oil embargo, and I can tell you that I do not intend to wait in line for a battery produced in China if I am forced to buy an EV. The United States has never had to rely on foreign adversaries to build our cars and trucks. We’ve always been able to make our own transmissions, our own alternators, and our own engines, and I do not understand why President Biden is allowing his administration to now route our essential supply chains through China.”
In November, Steve Forbes said that he thinks Manchin intends “to force” Joe Biden out of the 2024 race.
It looks like we may find out if that’s what he plans next month in New Hampshire.
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