West Virginia Democrats this week announced that outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin, Who was Be expected To Retire, Might be He will launch a surprise campaign in the lead-up to the gubernatorial election.
The speculation intensified after Manchin was reportedly attacked by people encouraging him to run at an event at the Greenbriar Resort in White Sulphur Springs. According to WVMetroNews. The Greenbrier is famously owned by the state’s current governor, Democrat-turned-Republican Jim Justice, who is term-limited and is now the Republican candidate to succeed Manchin for the Senate.
“Discussion about the possibility of Joe Manchin running again for Governor of West Virginia is real,” he wrote. Hoppy KerchevalHe is a news anchor and one of the most well-known media personalities in the state.
The state’s primary election has already concluded, and Manchin’s bid will be complicated by the fact that Huntington Mayor Steve Williams is the incumbent Democratic candidate.
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Senator Joe Manchin (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
State officials, who denied reports that Sen. Manchin would be forced to choose between replacing Williams as the Democratic candidate or running against the mayor of the state’s second-largest city, said he has just days to make a decision.
Manchin, who served as West Virginia’s governor from 2005 to 2010 before being elected to succeed the late Robert C. Byrd, would have had to leave the Democratic party to do so, an official with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office told Fox News Digital.
The official said it was too late for Manchin to run as a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or member of the state’s Mountain Party, making June 1 effectively the deadline for other candidates running this year.
Independent candidates can get on the November ballot by collecting signatures from voters of any party and submitting them along with a certification by August 1. However, candidates must not be members of a recognized political party within 60 days of submitting them, and no later than June 1.
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A Welcome to West Virginia sign greets travelers as they emerge from the East River Mountain Tunnel along Interstate 77 near Princeton, West Virginia. (Fox News/Charles Kreitz)
Attempts to reach West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Matt Herridge about the matter were unsuccessful, but in a statement to WVMetroNews, Herridge said the party “fully supports” Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
But state Rep. Mike Pushkin, chairman of the state Democratic Party, denied any claims that Manchin was making a surprise run, saying instead much of the speculation was coming from Republicans unhappy with Morrissey being selected as the nominee.
“More than two-thirds of Republicans voted for another candidate,” he said of the Republican gubernatorial primary between Morrissey and another leading Republican candidate, state Rep. Moore Capito (the son of Manchin’s colleague, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R.W.V.)).
“Senator Manchin is not running. Our candidate is Mayor Steve Williams. When our Republican friends and independent friends look at Mayor Williams’ track record, I think there will be a lot of them supporting him,” Pushkin said.
Pushkin said he believes Williams is the right candidate despite the political headwinds and pressure on Manchin, who has a better name recognition. He said Huntington was bankrupt and police officers were underpaid before Williams was elected, adding that the mayor hadn’t raised taxes.
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Manchin is retiring from the Senate anyway, but Pushkin said his Democratic successor, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, also has “great stories” from his time as mayor of the city west of Pittsburgh and working for Byrd.
Responding to the news, officials with the Republican Governors Association said it was a clear signal that Republican voters had chosen Morrissey as their candidate.
“There is only one conservative candidate who can stand up to the Biden Administration’s disastrous policies and deliver results for West Virginia families, and no amount of anonymous sources will change that,” said RGA national spokesperson Courtney Alexander.
Manchin’s office did not respond to multiple attempts seeking comment.
