Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who isn’t seeking reelection in 2024, has added flames to the growing speculation that he will make a run for the presidency with a scheduled appearance news month at an event in New Hampshire, usually reserved for major presidential candidates.
Sen. Manchin, who is 76, is set to speak at an event called “Politics & Eggs” on January 12 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics sponsor the event.
The senator will appear to promote his new organization, Americans Together, which states on its website that it is a “movement to mobilize the middle,” a moderate group of Americans who “stand against extremism in politics. It has taken over our political system and taken away our voice.” It’s the first stop on a countrywide listening tour.
The “Politics & Eggs” series began in 1995 to allow New England and New Hampshire business leaders to meet with major party presidential candidates. The series hosted three GOP candidates, former South Carolina Governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. In 2015, Donald Trump spoke at the series amidst his presidential campaign.
However, the series has expanded to include speakers besides candidates who discuss critical issues facing the country.
Joe Manchin will not seek a third term as a senator
However, before announcing last month he wouldn’t seek a third full term as the lone Democrat senator in primarily Republican West Virginia, Manchin has remained secretive about whether or not he would run for president as a member of the No Labels Unity Party or as an independent.
Democrats are concerned a run by Manchin, along with independent campaigns by Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will leech votes from President Joe Biden and cost him his second term.
At the December 12 Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit, Manchin was pressed about a presidential run but would not speculate on his political future.
“What I can tell you is there might be a movement, there might not,” said Manchin. “That depends. I really don’t know. I would not be a spoiler. I’ve never been a spoiler in anything. I get into something I get in to win. The difference about winning is this — The political process has gotten to the point of visceral hatred that I’ve got to create you as an enemy and hate you in order to compete against you. I’ve never done business that way.”
