9 months ago
Sen. Joe Manchin hasn’t yet said whether he’ll launch a third party bid for president. But if he does, he already has some ideas of who he wants as his running mate.
“Hypothetically, if I was picking my running mate, really who I would ask right now is Mitt Romney,” the West Virginia Democrat said during a Q&A at a City Club of Cleveland breakfast Thursday — a stop on the nationwide “listening tour” he launched after announcing he would forgo a reelection bid in 2024. Romney is also not running for reelection this year.
Manchin also floated Rob Portman, the moderate former Republican senator from Ohio.
“Rob Portman would be right there, too,” Manchin quickly added.
The stalwart moderate has not yet made a decision on whether he’ll run for president, a notion that has sparked concern from Democrats who worry a Manchin bid would pull support away from President Joe Biden in a general election.
In July, Manchin traveled to the early primary state of New Hampshire for an event with No Labels, a centrist organization that has floated a plan to launch a third-party bipartisan presidential ticket to appeal to voters disenchanted by the thought of a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, the likely GOP nominee. Manchin also spoke on a call with the group.
In announcing he wouldn’t seek to keep his Senate seat, Manchin said he would be “traveling the country and speaking out, to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle, and bring Americans together.”
English (US)