As Joe Manchin prepares to leave Congress after nearly 15 years, the West Virginia senator — who left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent earlier this year — is further distancing himself from his former party, calling the Democratic brand “toxic” .
“The D brand has been so maligned from the standpoint that it's just toxic,” Manchin told CNN's Manu Raju in an interview that aired Sunday, citing the shift as the reason he left the party.
Adding that he no longer considers himself a Democrat “in the mold of what the Democratic Party has turned itself into,” Manchin — who has long been a crucial swing vote in the Senate — said the party's brand has become about telling people what they can and they can't, by blaming progressives for the change.
“They've basically started thinking, 'Well, we want to protect you there, but we're going to tell you how to live your life from then on,'” Manchin added.
Manchin called progressives — a small number of lawmakers within the party who he believes have outsized influence — out of touch with the majority of Americans.
“This country is not moving left,” he said.
The former West Virginia governor turned senator shared that he was a lifelong Democrat because the party used to focus on kitchen table issues like “good job, good pay,” but claimed Democrats are now too concerned about sensitive social issues issues. such as transgender rights, while taking “no responsibility at all” for the federal budget during the election.
But Manchin said Republicans are also not taking responsibility for the national debt, further criticizing them for their lack of common sense on guns.
“They're too extreme, it's just common sense,” Manchin said. “I'm not going to forbid you from buying it, but you're going to have to show some responsibility.”
“So the Democrats are going too far, wanting to ban. The Republican says, “Oh, let the good times come. Let everyone have what they want,” Manchin added. “Just some common sense stuff there.”
When asked about incoming House Progressive Caucus Chairman Greg Casar's comments that Democrats would have won the election if the party looked more like outgoing caucus chairman Pramila Jayapal and less like Manchin, the senator told Raju: If anyone says that, they are completely insane.”
“The people of America voted,” Manchin said. “They had that opportunity, you know, to vote with Kamala Harris and to vote with Donald Trump. Donald Trump, not much has been said. You know exactly what you're getting. He makes no bones about it.”
He added: “You might say, 'That's too far right.' OK. If that's the case, why did they go too far to the right while Kamala tried to get back to the center a bit?
Instead, Manchin blamed Vice President Harris' loss on her inability to cast herself as a moderate candidate after championing progressive issues in her first presidential run in 2019.
“When you try to be someone you're not, it's hard,” Manchin said. He refused to endorse the vice president prior to the election.
While dodging questions in November about who he voted for, Manchin said he likes Trump and “gets along well with him.” He added that during the Army-Navy football game last weekend, he told the president-elect, “I want to help in any way I can.”
“I want you to succeed,” Manchin told Trump. “Every red-blooded American should want your president to succeed, whether you vote for him or not, whether you are from the same party or not, whether you like him or not.”
Senator Joe Manchin is interviewed by Manu Raju at the Dubliner in Washington, DC on December 19, 2024. -CNN
Manchin is ready for a third party
Before Manchin left the party earlier this year, the senator considered jumping into the presidential race to challenge Joe Biden in the Democratic primary and debated a run again after the president ended his campaign.
But Manchin told Raju that while he saw a “way” in people who didn't want a repeat of Biden versus Trump and were instead looking for a centrist candidate, he didn't believe he had a chance of getting on the ballot in all fifty states to come.
Manchin said he had been trying to explore a run with the centrist group No Labels and said he realized that “if I can't run in all fifty states, I have no chance of winning.”
“So why would I do that to myself, or anyone else, and go down in history as a spoiler?” Manchin added. No Labels ultimately abandoned its plans to form a third-party presidential unity ticket for the 2024 elections.
But Manchin emphasized the need for moderates in Congress and the White House, underscoring the significance of centrist voters.
“The centrist-moderate vote will decide who becomes the president of the United States. And when they get here, they don't rule that way. Neither side does that. They go to their respective corners,” Manchin said. “So if the center had a voice and had a party that could bring both of those — the Democratic, Republican Party — back, okay, that would be something.”
When asked by Raju if he thinks it's time for a third party, Manchin said he believes so.
The senator added that the third party would be called the “American Party” and serve as a space for moderate Democrats and Republicans. But he shared that he would not be its leader.
“I'll be there rooting around. I will be the best cheerleader they ever had,” Manchin said.
The retiring senator will be succeeded by West Virginia Republican Governor Jim Justice, a flipped seat that will give Republicans control of the chamber along with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
Asked if he will miss the Senate, Manchin said, “I don't think so.”
The senator, who once famously said the House “sucks,” said the sentiment holds, but claimed the House “sucks even worse.”
'Those poor boys. I feel so sorry for them there,” Manchin said. 'They can't move. They are in death.”
But as he looks back on his career in politics, Manchin looks back fondly on the past 40-plus years.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of my great state and contribute to my great country,” Manchin said.
This article has been updated.
CNN's Manu Raju, Aaron Pellish, Clare Foran and Matt Holt contributed to this report.
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