Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Thursday he won’t run for re-election next year, a much-anticipated decision that will reshape the battle for Senate control in 2024.
“After months of deliberation and long conversations with my family, I believe in my heart that I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia. I have made one of the toughest decisions of my life and decided that I will not be running for re-election to the United States Senate,” Manchin said in a written and video statement.
The decision by Manchin, a former governor who was elected to the Senate in a 2010 special election, is an earthquake in the battle for the Senate majority. It all but assures Republicans a pickup in the ruby-red state of West Virginia, where Manchin has defied political gravity for years by keeping the seat in his party’s hands. Donald Trump won the state by 39 points in 2020.
Democrats have had a love-hate relationship with Manchin, who has often been a thorn in the side of President Joe Biden’s priorities and forced him to scale back his ambitious domestic agenda.
But Manchin was also the lynchpin of the 50-50 Democratic Senate in 2021 and 2022. Without his seat, the chamber would have been run by Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., not Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Manchin provided the crucial vote to enable many of Biden’s policy victories — including the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act and scores of new federal judges.
R&I ~ MJM
Captain