Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin refused to endorse a possible re-election run by President Joe Biden in 2024.
During an interview on CBS, Manchin was asked whether he would get behind a Biden re-election campaign.
Q: "Are you going to endorse Joe Biden if he runs for re-election?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 5, 2023
JOE MANCHIN: "Oh, there's plenty of time for the election."
Q: "He's the leader of your party…"
MANCHIN: "No, the bottom line is let's see who's involved." pic.twitter.com/INedsa4daN
“No, the bottom line is let’s see who’s involved,” the senator said, suggesting that he might even challenge Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary.
Manchin made similar comments earlier this month when speaking with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, in which he was asked if he would also support the president’s re-election campaign.
“Well, let’s just see who’s all in the game. I’m not going to say I’m going to support or not support somebody. I want to see and find the best path — the best pathway for America. We got to get out of the toxic relationships that we have in our political process,” he said on March 2.
Cavuto then asked why the senator would not immediately support his fellow Democrat president for re-election, to which Manchin responded by saying that he will endorse whoever “has the best plan” and will “find a pathway that basically brings America together.”
This comes as Manchin finds himself in a controversy involving the steering of millions in federal funds to groups linked to his wife, Gayle Manchin.
According to a Fox report in January, Manchin helped ensure funding reached at least three organizations where his wife worked at the time.
Manchin is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees federal discretionary spending bills. One of his representatives responded to an inquiry by saying the senator was committed to utilizing his position on the Appropriations Committee to “fight for” state interests and pointed out that other legislators were also involved in supporting initiatives benefiting his wife’s employers.
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), a federal-state cooperation aimed at enhancing the economy of the Appalachian area, is one of the more notable examples of Manchin’s capacity to increase money for initiatives involving his wife. Gayle was chosen by the White House to serve as the federal co-chair of ARC in April 2021.
Gayle also served as a trustee for Bethany College in West Virginia from 2012 to 2021. The Department of Agriculture granted the college $39.6 million in loans under its Rural Development Program in April 2018.
