Manchin Returns to Politics, but Not as a Candidate

Joe Manchin says he's done running for office—but not done trying to shake up who gets there. The 78-year-old former West Virginia senator is launching the Independent Leadership Council, an effort he and daughter Heather hope will recruit and boost independent candidates in tight races nationwide. "We're trying to build a true independent network," Manchin tells Semafor. "Not a third party, but a movement of people that will bring our country and the people who are participating in politics today more towards the center."

Manchin, a former West Virginia governor, was first elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 2010. He left the party and registered as an independent in 2024, the year he decided not to seek re-election to the Senate and briefly weighed a third-party White House bid. Manchin tells CNN that the council wants candidates who are committed to being independent voices and "can vote with Democrats and Republicans when they're right and speak out against them when they're wrong."

• The group has already gathered hopefuls from states including West Virginia, California, Montana, and Iowa, and is eyeing contests in Alaska and Washington. With Gallup finding 45% of US adults now identify as independents, Manchin sees an opening: even a handful of independents in Congress, he argues, could force both parties to negotiate.

• Manchin tells CNN that he misses his "friends" in the Senate but he's not looking at another run for office. He says that in the current Senate, he's not sure that many lawmakers in either party are telling their colleagues, "C'mon, guys, let's go talk. Sit this down. Let's work this out."
• With Manchin out, the Democratic senator best known for bucking the party is Sen. John Fetterman, but Manchin apparently doesn't see him as a kindred spirit. "He's for all the hardcore Democrat issues that I wasn't for," he says.
• In an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis earlier this month, Manchin blamed the rise of democratic socialists on a "void of leadership" and suggested that they form their own party, the Hill reports. "The two main parties—the Democrats and the Republicans—are now reaping what they sowed, which is total control basically by aggressive zealots on the extreme," he said.