FOX NEWS – National Democratic campaign groups responsible for winning and holding a majority for the party in the Senate will not commit to supporting Sen. Joe Manchin should he decide to run for re-election.
Fox News Digital asked the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the official campaign arm for Senate Democrats, and the Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC supporting Democratic Senate campaigns, if they would support Manchin, D-W.Va., considering his frequent criticism of the party and unwillingness to toe the party line on legislation, but neither responded.
There has been wide speculation concerning Manchin’s political future, however he has remained tight-lipped over whether he will run for re-election to the Senate, or if he will toss his hat into the 2024 presidential race and provide another choice for Democrats unhappy with the prospect of Biden being the party’s nominee.
Last month, Manchin told a local radio show in West Virginia that he was “not running” for president at the moment, but he later hinted that he was not ruling out a decision to run some time in the future, and he wanted to be in the best position to “bring the country together.”
No other Democratic candidate has jumped to challenge Manchin for his Senate seat, presumably until he decides what direction he will ultimately go, but a number of progressive groups have called for him to face a primary challenge over his more centrist positions.
None of that has stopped Manchin from being a consistent thorn in Democrats’ side since the party won a majority in the Senate in the 2020 elections, and he has not shied away from calling them out on a number of policy points, especially energy and environmental policy. He has often found himself standing in the way of the Biden administration’s key legislative ambitions.
Most recently, Manchin announced he could not, “in good conscience,” support Biden nominee Laura Daniel-Davis to serve as the Department of the Interior’s assistant secretary for land and minerals management because of her climate activism.
In February, he called “bulls—” on the push by some Democrats to quickly end the use of fossil fuels, slamming what he called their “aspirational thoughts” that would come at the expense of the U.S. economy, which he argued still needed oil and gas.
Last year, Manchin angered a number of Democrats, especially the far-left “Squad,” when he, along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., broke with progressive leaders and announced their opposition to ending the Senate filibuster.
Manchin found some reprieve from his progressive colleagues’ disdain when he announced last summer that he had reached a deal on the Inflation Reduction Act and would support the legislation, but not after months of negotiations and uncertainty surrounding his position.
The praise was short-lived, however, as he joined his Republican colleagues earlier this year in seeking to terminate the Biden administration’s new environment, social and governance rule that allows retirement plan managers to factor environmental and social issues into investment decisions.
It is unclear when Manchin will announce his intentions for his political future. Biden has also not yet announced whether he will run for president again, but the White House has maintained he “intends to run.” An official announcement is expected in April.
