Manchin waits on third party bid until Super Tuesday
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Jan. 13—MANCHESTER — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, declined to take a baby step toward mounting a third-party bid for the White House on Friday, insisting prospects for such an alternative will remain unclear until voters decide primaries through Super Tuesday.
"On Super Tuesday (March 5) you will know what is going on, if there is going to be an option or a need for an option," Manchin told reporters after he spoke to the Politics & Eggs forum at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
With Republican Gov. Jim Justice and a GOP congressman already seeking his Senate seat, Manchin, 76, announced last November he would not seek reelection.
At that time, Manchin vowed to stay involved and create a grassroots group to forge more bipartisan compromise.
On Friday, Manchin came to New Hampshire to kick off the listening tour for Americans Together, the nonprofit he created to recruit more centrist candidates to run for elective office.
After speaking to a packed crowd for the New England Council breakfast forum, Manchin met with voters at MaryAnn's Diner in Derry.
Asked whether he would prefer President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump if that's the choice in November 2024, Manchin hedged.
"I am not picking anything right now until we see what we have," Manchin said.
The nonpartisan group, No Labels, invited Manchin to address that group last summer in Manchester.
According to published reports, former Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is entertaining a third-party bid with No Labels.
Asked if No Labels should pick a GOP rival to go up against Biden and Trump, Manchin answered, "If you are picking someone based on party identification then it isn't No Labels, is it?"
Heather Bresch, Manchin's daughter who is leading the new organization, said New Hampshire was the ideal place to launch it.
"Your independent thinking has been a bellwether for politics for a very long time," said Bresch, a former pharmaceutical company CEO.
Manchin said he will campaign for congressional term limits and an end to polarizing politics that has caused gridlock on Capitol Hill for much of the past 15 years.
"Can you imagine every day having your co-worker trying to get you fired?" Manchin said, referring to backstabbing between the two political parties in Congress.
"Washington will not change; it's a duopoly, a business, doing well, making a lot of money."
Later he added, "You have to demand that (you get) the character of the people you send, making sure they are there for the right reason."
Climate change protesters greeted Manchin
A group of climate change activists held signs outside the event on the campus of Saint Anselm College, protesting Manchin as a staunch supporter of the fossil fuel industry who comes from a coal-rich state.
Manchin defended his record on the issue.
"You can't eliminate your way to a cleaner climate, you can innovate your way to it," Manchin said, referring to investments oil and gas companies have made in renewables and more environmentally safe ways to extract fossil fuels.
"My friends on the left think you can eliminate it."
Manchin said he thought Biden would have governed more as the moderate he had been for his 36 years as a U.S. senator.
"He has been pushed to the far left, that's the only thing I have said. I don't know is it, 'You owe me because I got you elected,'" Manchin said.
Then Manchin added, "I would love to see President Biden move back to where he came from, from where we thought he was, that centrist part. ... I think things would be more stable, I really do."
