West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin teased a possible 2024 presidential run during a multi-day swing through the Mountain State this week.
\u201cThe two-party system, unless it changes, will be the downfall of our country,\u201d Manchin said in Charleston while touring a metal stamping plant. \u201cI\u2019m having a hard time \u2014 I really am.\u201d
Manchin has publicly teased a possible presidential run as part of the third party \u201cNo Labels\u201d\u2002ticket in 2024.
Democrats have loudly urged him against the idea, fearing such a candidacy would take votes away from President Biden.
Manchin told reporters in West Virginia that he was \u201cgetting closer\u201d to a 2024 decision \u2014 though he refused to get into specifics and repeated his oft-stated position that he would figure it out by the end of the year.
National Democrats would much prefer Manchin run for re-election in West Virginia, keeping a critical seat blue as they look to protect their majority from what experts predict will be a bruising primary cycle.
\u201cPeople need to wake up. It will be a very daunting Senate map for Democrats. Nobody can argue that,\u201d Veteran Democratic political consultant James Carville told The Post. \u201cIt is a bad year.\u201d
Manchin, a Democratic senator in one of the most conservative states in the union, had long had to walk a tightrope between his red meat voters and his considerably more progressive Senate colleagues.
West Virginia backed former President Trump over President Biden with more than 68% of the vote in 2020.
While he\u2019s bested Republicans in the state before, the GOP has vowed to take the seat back for good in the coming cycle and Manchin will likely face of stiff challenge from the state\u2019s popular governor Jim Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n