Former Sen. Joe Manchin is dipping his toes back into the political realm, and he’s looking for candidates to carry out the mission he started shortly before retiring from public office.
Manchin, a onetime Democrat before leaving his lifelong party to be an independent during his final year in the Senate, wants to see less partisanship in Congress. To do that, he argues, there need to be more free agents who are not beholden to either political party.
“One independent vote can change the equation. I know because I’ve lived it,” Manchin wrote in a social media post. “In a closely divided Congress, an Independent doesn’t have to be on the outside looking in. When neither party owns your vote, both sides have to earn it. That is real leverage — and used responsibly, it can bring Republicans and Democrats together to get things done.”
Manchin, alongside his daughter Heather, announced the creation of the Independent Leadership Council, a nonpartisan group aimed toward electing independents to Congress. The group plans to recruit and financially support candidates running in the midterm elections.
Similar efforts have not had much success in the past. But Manchin contends the political landscape is different now than it was before — and he pointed to his own experience as an independent senator to lay the blueprint.
“I’m living proof that one vote makes a difference,” Manchin told The New York Times. “We were able to get some things done in the 117th Congress that we haven’t done since, or didn’t do a whole lot before. So it showed when they knew that I wasn’t going to go crazy and go far left or far right, they said, ‘Maybe we can work something out’ — and that’s how we got things done.”
Manchin plans to put money behind independent candidates
The Independent Leadership Council comes as more politically unaffiliated candidates run in high-profile races in November. The Manchins plan to review the candidates and will contribute money to amplify some campaigns, they told the outlet.
Those decisions should be made by mid-September.
When it comes to requirements for candidates to earn support, Manchin said his biggest sticking point would be the absence of caucus membership. There are currently two independents in the Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, both of whom caucus with Democrats — meaning they align with the party, attend weekly meetings and receive committee positions through party leadership.
However, Manchin would require candidates to pledge to be truly independent.
“There’s a lot of people who don’t go to caucus lunches, so that’s not the end all and be all,” Manchin told The New York Times. “With that being said, they’re going to be shunned and they’re going to be chastised, and the pressure is going to be insurmountable. That’s where I can help them. I can just say: Listen, they cannot deny you the right to vote. You’re going to be voting on the floor.”
While it may make it more difficult to receive positions on certain committees, Manchin argued there may be a path forward by appealing to the Senate parliamentarian.
It’s not yet clear how involved the Independent Leadership Council will be during the upcoming midterm cycle. But it could open the door for a bigger push to break the two-party stalemate in Congress, and perhaps open the door for a viable independent candidate in a future presidential election.
“Oh my gosh, wouldn’t that be wonderful,” Manchin told the outlet.
