Senator Joe Manchin disclosed that he has been thinking about leaving the Democratic Party to run as an independent for a considerable amount of time during a radio interview in West Virginia on Thursday.

Manchin, in a statement, said, “I’m thinking seriously. I have to have peace of mind, basically. The brand has become so bad, the ‘D’ brand and ‘R’ brand. In West Virginia, the ‘D’ brand because it’s [the] national brand. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia, it’s the Democrats in Washington. You’ve heard me say a million times I’m not a Washington Democrat.”

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Who is Joe Manchin?

Joseph Manchin III, a politician and businessman from the United States, was born on August 24, 1947. He has been the senior senator from West Virginia since 2010. 

Manchin, a well-known centrist within the Democratic Party, formerly held the positions of 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005 and 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010. He took over as West Virginia’s senior U.S. senator after Jay Rockefeller retired in 2015, making him the state’s lone congressional Democrat.

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Since 2021, Joe Manchin has been the only Democrat in West Virginia holding a statewide or congressional position. He serves a largely Republican-leaning population, which makes his political position in Congress particularly difficult for a Democrat. He calls himself a “centrist, moderate, conservative Democrat,” and his political beliefs are consistent with his reputation as the Senate’s most conservative Democrat.

He opposed a number of President Barack Obama’s energy initiatives, especially those that involved coal mining, and he voted against cloture for the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (even though he did not vote on the actual legislation).

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After the 2020 elections, Joe Manchin was identified as the Senate’s “most important swing vote.” This significance developed as a result of the Senate’s 50/50 split between Democrats and Republicans.