United States
Joe Manchin. — © Reuters
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from the American state of West Virginia will not run in next year’s Senate elections. And that could be a problem for Democrats.
Manchin (76) is known as a troublemaker within the Democratic party, who regularly blocked or delayed important decisions. Together with Senator Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, he sometimes made life difficult for President Joe Biden.
‘I have made one of the most difficult decisions of my life: I will not seek re-election to the Senate. However, I will travel around the country to see if there is interest in a movement that can bring Americans together,” said one https://twitter.com/Sen_JoeManchin/status/1722698734910210420 that Manchin distributed. “Our country is not as divided as Washington sometimes makes it seem.”
Manchin’s decision could have important consequences. The Democrats have a very narrow majority of two seats in the Senate. If Manchin doesn’t emerge, there’s a chance his seat could go to a Republican. In the 2020 presidential elections, Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in West Virginia by a wide margin. In his last election, Manchin won by just 0.3 percentage points over his Republican rival.
Manchin has previously indicated that he has difficulty with the division in the American political landscape. He briefly considered leaving the Democratic Party, following Sinema, who is now an independent. Last summer he appeared at an event of the group ‘No Labels’, where he spoke about the desirability of a presidential candidate who is not supported by either party. Polls show that neither Biden nor Trump can inspire the American electorate.
“I will miss this American patriot in the Senate,” responded Republican Mitt Romney, who has sometimes also taken an independent position in his party and is also not seeking re-election. But our friendship and commitment to American values will not disappear. wrote him on X.
