Manchin more ‘concerned’ than ever about national division amid 2024 speculation
Kaelan Deese
Video Embed
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Sunday touted a need for a centrist candidate in the 2024 presidential election, saying “the country was not designed to be this divided,” as rumors circulate about a potential third-party bid.
“I’m concerned more now than I’ve ever been concerned in my lifetime,” Manchin told radio talk show host John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM’s The Cats Roundtable.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY MEETS RNC CRITERIA FOR FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Manchin churned speculation of a potential third-party bid earlier this week after speaking at a New Hampshire town hall event sponsored by No Labels, a centrist group seeking to glean a “unity ticket” in the upcoming race for the Oval Office.
The moderate Democrat blamed the two major political parties for the current polarized state of politics.
“The people in New York aren’t divided, or in West Virginia,” Manchin said. “It’s basically the political parties in Washington with their business model that they get better returns, and their business does much better when you’re fighting and dividing each other versus uniting each other.”
Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who is being challenged for his Senate seat by the state’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice, has so far declined to rule out a third-party bid, causing alarm among Democrats supporting President Joe Biden, who say it could damage his reelection bid.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
But Manchin claimed Monday he wasn’t at the New Hampshire event for a shot at the White House in 2024, rather, because he believes the “political parties have become so extreme” and left people “politically homeless,” he told Catsimatidis.
“I’m here trying basically to save the nation,” he said earlier this week. “I’m concerned more now than I’ve ever been concerned in my lifetime.”