Washington — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday that he will not run for the presidency in 2024, silencing whispers about whether his political future would include a White House bid.
Manchin squashed speculation about a presidential campaign during an event at West Virginia University.
In January the West Virginia Democrat, who often votes against his party, hadn’t ruled out a third-party run for the White House, saying in an interview with “Face the Nation,” saying only that he would do “everything I can to save my country. And I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I’ll help whoever, and I’ll support whoever that I think can best help this country come back to this common sense, sensible middle, which is center left, center right, working together with a majority. You can’t govern from extremes,” Manchin said, but he indicated that he’d decide on a third-party presidential candidacy by March.
Manchin announced in November that he would not be seeking reelection in the Senate, where he was its most conservative Democrat. He often served as a swing vote throughout his tenure in the upper chamber, bucking his party on hot-button issues like abortion, climate change and gun rights.
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