WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday that he has changed his registration to independent, raising questions about his political plans because the move could improve his chances should he seek elected office again in a state that leans heavily Republican.
Manchin, 76, has often been at odds with the Democratic Party and an obstacle to many of President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities, but he played a central role in helping Biden pass landmark climate change and health care reform legislation in 2022.
He had already announced in November that he would not run for the Senate again, giving Republicans a clear chance to win his seat in West Virginia and regain the majority next year.
Manchin has served in the Senate since 2010 and is chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. In a statement, he said he has seen both major political parties abandon their voters for “partisan extremism while endangering our democracy” over the past 15 years.
“Today, our national politics is broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground,” Manchin said. “To stay true to myself and continue to put country before party, I have decided to register as an independent candidate with no party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s reasonable majority.”
Manchin will continue to work with Democrats and retain his chairmanship, according to a person familiar with his thinking who was granted anonymity to discuss his plans. The move helps Democrats preserve their narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate.
Faced with a possible retirement from politics, Manchin appears to be keeping his options open.
He has long wanted to change his party affiliation and become an independent, according to a second person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity, but a looming deadline in West Virginia forced the move.
To be eligible to run in this year’s election, candidates must declare their political affiliation 60 days before the August 1 deadline.
Manchin is now registered as an independent, but still has time to run for the Senate again or possibly for governor, a position he held from 2005 to 2010.
He had gone back and forth for months before announcing that he would not run for Senate again. Many doubted he could win against the highly popular Gov. Jim Justice, the Republican Senate candidate whom Manchin recruited as a Democrat for governor in 2016. Justice switched to the Republican fold shortly after beginning his first term at a rally with then-President Donald Trump.
If the Senate candidates fail, Manchin could try to keep his seat, but a run for governor could be more advantageous.
Manchin previously defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in 2018. That Senate race was Manchin’s toughest in his more than three decades in West Virginia politics. He defeated Morrisey by just over 3 percentage points.
Steve Williams, the Democratic candidate for governor and mayor of Huntington, said last week he did not believe Manchin intends to enter the gubernatorial race, adding that they have been friends for decades.
West Virginia Democratic Party officials said Friday that Manchin had not informed them he was switching to independents. In a statement Friday, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin said he was disappointed.
“Although the Senator was one of the most independent senators in the country and at times opposed the Democrats’ agenda, we will always be grateful for his votes to impeach President Trump, for establishing the January 6 commission, and for warning that if re-elected, Trump would ‘destroy democracy in America,'” he said.
Manchin first entered the Senate after winning a special election following the death of Robert C. Byrd in 2010. The state’s political direction has changed dramatically since then.
During Manchin’s first two Senate campaigns, there were more registered Democrats than Republicans, but those numbers have reversed. Today, about 40 percent of registered voters are Republicans, compared to 31 percent Democrats and about 24 percent independents.
Both houses of the legislature have overwhelming Republican majorities, and Trump won the state overwhelmingly in 2016 and 2020.
Manchin had also considered running for president as a third-party candidate, but decided against it in February, saying he did not want to be a “spoiler.”
Manchin, the latest in a line of influential West Virginia Democrats to champion coal industry interests at the national level, has increasingly complained about the two-party system over the past year. During a tour of a Charleston stamping plant in October, he said he identified more with the independents than with the parties.
“Don’t worry about the ‘D’ or the ‘R’, worry about the person – who is that person?” he said. “There can be a good D and a bad D and a good R and a bad R, but the identity – I prefer the independent identity.”
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Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report. Willingham reported from Charleston, WV
