He has made life difficult for Joe Biden in recent years. But he also secured the Democrats a Senate seat in a deeply Republican US state. Now Joe Manchin is getting out.
An obstructionist among the US Democrats is withdrawing from the Senate, putting his party in political trouble. The prominent Democratic senator from the state of West Virginia, Joe Manchin, announced in a video message on Platform X that he would not run for re-election next year. In recent years, the 76-year-old has held his Senate seat for the Democrats in an otherwise very Republican state.
His withdrawal puts the Democrats at risk of losing the Senate seat in the next election in early November 2024. They currently only have a slim majority in the Chamber of Congress. Manchin has regularly made headlines in recent years by blocking plans by his party colleague, US President Joe Biden, in the Senate.
US elections and Manchin’s future plans
A new president will be elected in the United States on November 5, 2024. At the same time, all seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the seats in the Senate will be reallocated.
Democrats currently control 51 of 100 seats in the Senate. By the beginning of 2023, they had only occupied 50 seats there and were regularly dependent on US Vice President Kamala Harris, whose role is also President of the Senate, to vote in stalemate situations. Manchin used the situation many times to deviate from the party line, withhold his approval and thus sabotage several of Biden’s major projects. Because the Democrats later gained a seat, Manchin’s blocking potential recently shrank.
In his video message, Manchin said he wanted to travel the country in the future and continue to speak out “to find out whether there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.” He left it open what exactly that meant.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
