# Joe Manchin won't run again **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883 "2023-11-09T20:56:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/1 "2023-11-09T20:56:19Z")
CNN [reports](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/politics/joe-manchin-wont-run-for-reelection/index.html) that Machin won’t run again for the Senate. That gives a 50/50 split, and the Vice President gives the deciding vote? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/2 "2023-11-09T20:58:54Z")
He’s not walking away, he’s just not running for reelection when the time comes. As long as he remains a senator, the voting doesn’t change, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/3 "2023-11-09T21:07:19Z")
No, the number of Democrats in the Senate won’t change until AFTER the 2024 election. Manchin is still in the Senate until January 2025, unless he resigns. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/4 "2023-11-09T21:32:42Z")
Well, now we’ll see if the part of the Internet that has complained loudly about him for years enjoys getting what they asked for when the seat flips ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/5 "2023-11-09T22:02:34Z")
Indeed. I understand it will be a cinch for the Republicans to regain the seat. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/6 "2023-11-09T22:14:29Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I understand it will be a cinch for the Republicans to regain the seat. Yeah, WV went for Trump big time in 2020, so it’s very unlikely Dems retain the seat for 2025. And keeping the Senate was already going to be a major challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/7 "2023-11-09T22:27:14Z")
I agree but the election yesterday saw some Trump strongholds (60/40) flip. I would not bet on a dem winning in WV but it is not completely unthinkable. Just a longshot. > **[Democrats flip county Donald Trump won by nearly 60 points](https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-flip-county-donald-trump-won-nearly-60-points-1841845)** > > Kentucky's Letcher County looks to have backed Democratic Governor Andy Beshear after having massively voted for Donald Trump in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/8 "2023-11-09T22:29:10Z")
I don’t particularly like the man. I think he got in the way multiple times when he didn’t have to and made several pieces of legislation worse. But in a Senate where there are so few seats that don’t already completely mirror the Presidential election results, he was a bit of flexibility for the Democrats in getting to a majority. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/9 "2023-11-09T22:46:16Z")
I’ve said it before: I don’t like the effect he’s had on many Democratic bills, but the solution to that isn’t to get rid of him; it’s to get enough other Democrats that you don’t need to appease him. In a state like West Virginia, he’s probably about the best we can get. Now, Sinema is an entirely different story. We can do much better than her. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/10 "2023-11-10T02:56:17Z")
On his tombstone will be written: “He devoted his life to saving the filibuster”. He was good for one vote: to organize the Senate. Otherwise he was nothing more than an annoying roadblock. Not as much as Sinema, but bad enough. He could have carved out an exception to the filibuster for voting rights but chose not to. Now he’ll run 3rd party for the express purpose of putting a fascist in the White House. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/11 "2023-11-10T03:03:13Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Well, now we’ll see if the part of the Internet that has complained loudly about him for years enjoys getting what they asked for when the seat flips I think the annoyance was mainly that if he knew he wasn’t going to run again, why couldn’t he sacrifice some small piece of his reputation to help the Democratic agenda pass in a way that had very low cost to him. To find out he was both obsessed with optics and didn’t need the optics for anything important is kind of infuriating. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/12 "2023-11-10T03:21:06Z")
Not to go into conspiracy theory bat shit crazy territory, but if I were some rich conservative, I would have someone like Manchin in my back pocket to throw the vote on occasion, and/or at least play spoiler resulting in watered down bills that would have passed anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/13 "2023-11-10T05:25:22Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > He was good for one vote: to organize the Senate. He was good for many votes. With one exception I can think of that got through anyway, I believe Manchin has voted with Biden on every other judge appointment. To date that’s 153 Federal judges appointed, with 34 pending (over his entire term Trump installed 234). Don’t let bitterness cloud your judgement. Manchin, however frustrating, is serving an important function in the Senate by that metric alone. It’s the most important thing that a bare Senate majority can give your party agenda. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/14 "2023-11-10T18:32:37Z")
There seems to be talk that Jim Justice will run for US Senator, and he is unbeatable in West Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/15 "2023-11-10T18:53:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve said it before: I don’t like the effect he’s had on many Democratic bills, but the solution to that isn’t to get rid of him; it’s to get enough other Democrats that you don’t need to appease him. In a state like West Virginia, he’s probably about the best we can get. > > Now, Sinema is an entirely different story. We can do much better than her. I always had a carve-out for Manchin. Sinema’s Arizona was R+2. West Virginia is R+22, the 2nd worst in the nation. Manchin was reasonably clear about what he wanted. Sinema operated off a strategy that was as opaque as it was ineffective. And in the end of the day the Dems passed the Green New Deal with zero Republican support, a remarkable thing given West Virginia’s cultural (not economic) reliance on coal mining. If there were any actual Republican moderates in the Senate, we could have gotten permitting reform for better or worse - not clear. It certainly would have been better for business. Unfortunately, Manchin is planning a national listening tour, which suggests a third party run that could bring our 240 year experiment to a pause. I hope he’s just seeking attention. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/16 "2023-11-10T21:07:17Z")
If Manchin goes 3rd party, it’ll be well right of anything a Democrat would recognize. Go mini-Joe; split the Right !! ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/17 "2023-11-10T21:13:47Z")
This is just based on my feelings about Manchin – but I think it’s extremely unlikely that he runs for President 3rd party. Unlike Sinema, who I feel is a scumbag wannabe fame-seeker, I believe Manchin is a very shrewd politician. That doesn’t mean I think he’s a force for good – he’s largely been a force for corporate and (especially) fossil fuel interests, just not as far to the extreme as Republicans. But I do believe that he’s genuinely horrified by Trump and the modern Republican party. As a very shrewd politician (likely with an ego to match), he loves attention. So he loves seeing all these people fawn over him and encourage him to run 3rd party. But he’s smart enough to know that he couldn’t win as a 3rd party candidate, and he has absolutely no interest in helping Trump regain power. So ultimately, he’ll announce he’s not running and endorse Biden, but probably at the last possible minute (meaning, likely, late next summer). My feelings, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/18 "2023-11-10T21:36:22Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Dems passed the Green New Deal They did? I presume you meant the IRA here. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/19 "2023-11-10T22:07:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > There seems to be talk that Jim Justice will run for US Senator, and he is unbeatable in West Virginia. It’s not just talk, Justice declared for the seat a couple months ago. The fact that he’d have to run against one of the most popular governors in America with a net worth of half a billion dollars undoubtedly played a roll in Manchin’s decision. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883/20 "2023-11-10T22:48:36Z")
He was going to lose anyways, but this is a big loss. People just don’t understand how huge it was to have a Senator from such a deep red state. Even if he voted with the Dems 0% of the time he is still the reason we didn’t have Mitch McConnell as majority leader. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-manchin-wont-run-again/992883.md?page=2)