Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) lamented the recent shift in his former Democratic Party that he says led to its 2024 loss.
Manchin reacted to Donald Trump’s sweeping win in Tuesday’s election on One Nation with Brian Kilmeade on Saturday. Trump won 312 of the electoral votes while his Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris only outperformed her predecessor, President Joe Biden, in 58 counties among the over 3,100 counties nationwide.
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“This is about basically the Democratic Party — the party that I was born and raised in — being fiscally responsible and socially compassionate,” Manchin said, explaining that the party used to be for the working class. “They forgot them. The party, over the years, they’ve moved from there spending more time and effort helping those who are able-bodied but don’t or won’t work.”
As a senator, Manchin said he was the “bad guy” of the party for trying to steer it back to its roots. Now he is set to retire and is not actively looking to return to work for the federal government in any capacity. Still, he advised his former party and noted a lesson to be learned regarding Harris’s disconnect with voters.
“You can never leave your base. Your base is the people that are working,” Manchin said.
“You got to admit you’ve made mistakes and then fix them,” he continued, referencing Harris’s record as vice president. “My goodness, a politician is afraid to say, ‘I’m sorry, I messed this one up. I’m going to fix it.’”
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In Tuesday’s election, Republican Sen.-elect Jim Justice filled Manchin’s seat. This helped flip the chamber to a Republican majority.
Manchin served in Congress since 2010.