Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) will go to New Hampshire next month in a move that will likely be seen as another sign he’s seriously considering a 2024 presidential run.
The West Virginia Democrat, who has been outspoken about a possible third-party run, will kick off his new organization’s listening tour at Politics and Eggs on January 12, a New England Council and New Hampshire Institute of Politics event, which is “typically reserved for candidates running for public office," according to The Hill.
“Americans Together, a new organization that is creating a platform for the middle to connect and empower moderate voices around the country, is kicking off this effort by launching a listening tour in January starting in New Hampshire,” reads a description of the event. “Their goal is to build a bridge between popular will and political outcomes.”
Manchin announced in November that he will not seek re-election and since then has been open about his interest in exploring the possibility of mounting a presidential bid.
Starting in January, Manchin will tour the country to meet with voters who feel "politically homeless," Axios reports.
While he told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker that he’d "absolutely" consider running for president, during a recent CNN interview he emphasized that he hasn't said launching a presidential bid is a definite.
"I have said that basically, this country doesn't work from the extremes," Manchin said. "You can't have the extreme right and the extreme left with all these extreme ideas, and you can't weaponize our system to make thinking that anybody on the other side that you're not on is your enemy and you treat them as an enemy."
Manchin added that he believes "we've never seen the voters this displeased with the candidates they think they're going to be receiving right now."
Some members of his own party are cautioning against a run over how it would affect President's Biden's reelection chances.
“I think it would be very, very unfortunate if Joe Manchin decided to do that,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said, according to The Hill. “I know he’s a supporter of President Biden and has been an important person here in the U.S. Senate in terms of getting things done. And he knows that if he were to step in [to the race] that it would make it much more likely Donald Trump would be president again, and I know Joe Manchin doesn’t want that.”
Those concerns were echoed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) who told The Hill he is “deeply disappointed that he is still even talking about a possible run that would undermine Joe Biden.
“The simple stark fact is that a Manchin run for president would undercut Joe Biden,” the Democrat added.
Other Democratic senators were not as worried about the possibility of Manchin running.
“I’m not terribly worried about him running as a third-party candidate. If he does, he probably draws more votes from Donald Trump than he does from Joe Biden," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said on "Meet the Press" last month.
Manchin, for his part, said he would "never be a spoiler for anybody."
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