June 4, 2023

Joe Manchin Isn’t Ruling Out a 2024 Run for President

He’s reportedly being courted by the nonpartisan group No Labels.

Stefani Reynolds/Getty

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

The list of challengers to President Joe Biden’s bid for reelection keeps growing. On the right, we’ve got former president Donald Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a bunch of other long-shot candidates, and, in all likelihood, former vice president Mike Pence. On the left, there’s self-help author Marianne Williamson and vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

Now, at least one more character is toying with joining the cast of 2024: On Sunday, Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, said he’s not not thinking about a possible run for president as a third-party candidate.

In May, the New York Times reported that the centrist nonpartisan group No Labels is seeking to put a third-party candidate on the ballot in 2024, and that Manchin is reportedly “at the top of their list.” When asked by “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream about the report, and whether a bid for the Oval is in the cards for Manchin, he said, after some prodding, he was “not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out.”

“No Labels has been moving and pushing very hard, the centrist middle. Making common-sense decisions,” Manchin said. “People that basically expect us to do our job. And not put the political party ahead of the policy in our great country. That’s what we’ve seen happening. And there’s more noise and more extremism coming from the far left and the far right.”

Watch Bream’s questioning at about 5:15 here:

Manchin is no stranger to being at odds with the president. He’s been at the center of several contentious party-line votes under Biden, including, most memorably, in late 2021, torpedoing the Build Back Better bill, a $2.2 trillion plan to address climate change and fund social policies like paid family leave. Manchin’s decision was met with searing criticism from his Democratic colleagues.

He’s also used his position as a moderate Democrat to his advantage. Included in the debt ceiling deal Biden signed on Saturday, for instance, was final approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a controversial gas pipeline that Manchin has backed for years. “Finally we’re going to finish it,” he told Bream on Sunday. “It’ll be up and running by January of next year.”

Take the next step: Help us fight for the truth.

Investigative journalism, like the story you just read, takes time to do. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices.

We can afford to take that time because we don’t report to an oligarch or corporation with a special agenda. We report to you, and for you. That’s why we unabashedly pursue the truth and relentlessly shine a light into the darkness.

In this month’s Summer Membership Drive, we’ve got to raise $200,000 to support more crucial investigations. This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. We cannot do this work without you.

So, we’re asking: Will you support independent journalism that demands those in power answer for their actions?

Take the next step: Help us fight for the truth.

Investigative journalism, like the story you just read, takes time to do. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices

We can afford to take that time because we don’t report to an oligarch or corporation with a special agenda. We report to you, and for you. That’s why we unabashedly pursue the truth and relentlessly shine a light into the darkness.

In this month’s Summer Membership Drive, we’ve got to raise $200,000 to support more crucial investigations. This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. We cannot do this work without you.

So, we’re asking: Will you support independent journalism that demands those in power answer for their actions?

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

INDEPENDENT. BECAUSE OF YOU.

Mother Jones has no billionaires calling the shots—just readers like you making fearless reporting possible

Donate