U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin bids farewell to Capitol Hill with criticism of Democrats and calls for a third party

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin bucked his party in 2021 when he refused to support a $1.8 trillion bill on taxes, social programs and clean energy, thus dooming President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" initiative.

Then this month, in one of his final actions as a member of Congress, he also bucked his party and voted against a nominee that would have continued the Democratic majority on the National Labor Relations Board once both he and Biden leave office.

In between, Manchin played outsized roles in Biden's economic stimulus program and his infrastructure bill, as well as the smaller climate change and health care law that came out of the wreckage of Build Back Better.

In exit interviews, Manchin, I-W.Va., said his former party had gone too far to the left and left him in a position he did not want — the one individual who could make or break legislation.

"I did not run for that position," Manchin told the Washington Post. "I did not try to wedge myself in that and be the deciding vote."

He said he made it clear once the Democrats won the trifecta of the White House, Senate and House in 2021 that he was not going to be a guaranteed "yes" vote.

"I don't work for you," he said he told his colleagues, according to the Post interview. "You didn't hire me and you can't fire me. I work for the people of West Virginia on behalf of the United States government. That's who I have to answer to, and if this stuff doesn't make sense no matter how bad you want it, I can't vote for it."

None of Biden's major accomplishments — the economic stimulus package, the infrastructure law, the climate change and health care measure, and the funding to bring manufacturing, including those of computer chips, back to the U.S. — would have passed without Manchin's vote.

"Each of these victories required senators to come together from both sides of the aisle to find solutions for Americans," he said on the Senate floor earlier this month in his farewell speech. "These were bills that just made common sense. And when each side could take just a little step to find common ground, powerful things have happened."

In his closing weeks as a senator, he touted funding in those bills for clean energy manufacturing in West Virginia coal communities, for a new hanger at a small West Virginia airport and for a carbon storage hub in the state.

He singled out the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (Arch2), which will receive up to $925 million in federal funding for projects in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.

"You can't eliminate your way to a cleaner environment, you can innovate it," Manchin said in his floor speech. "That's why we funded the development of regional hydrogen hubs and made sure one of them would be in the Appalachia region."

His closing words on the Senate floor also talked about the need for lawmakers to work together, and his support for the filibuster that requires 60 votes — support from both parties — to pass legislation.

But it didn't always work, he said. Popular legislation such as overhauling immigration laws and expanding background checks for guns failed, he said.

"These opportunities were missed because we've let politics get in the way of doing our job," he said in his floor speech. "I am not saying that dealing with politics is easy. It's not. It's messy. I've had my share of tough votes. At times, I have felt like the whole Senate was united — in being upset with me. So sometimes I guess we did come together."

Harsh words for Democrats

Manchin officially left the Democratic Party in May and registered as an independent. He continued to caucus with his fellow Democrats until the end.

But he's leaving office with some harsh words for the party he left behind. After all, he said, he wasn't the only person who left the Democratic Party.

"The brand got so bad. The 'D' brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of — it's just — it's toxic," he said in the CNN interview.

He said Democrats have been telling people what they have to believe in and what they have to do, no matter how outrageous.

"The Democrat I grew up being, they wanted to make sure that people had an opportunity for a good job, a good pay," he told CNN. "I will protect you. Just don't try to mainstream it. And the Democratic Party, the Washington Democrats, have tried to mainstream the extreme. ...They have — they have basically, expanded upon thinking, well, we want to protect you there, but we're going to tell you how you should live your life."

He never endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in 2024, and said the election results showed that Americans didn't want someone on the left.

He said it was "nuts" and "completely insane" to say Harris lost because she wasn't progressive enough. The problem was that her liberal voting record made it hard for her to pivot to the center in the fall campaign, he said,

"They're saying if Kamala would have been who she always has been, pretty far to the left, it would have been better for her. That's crazy," Manchin told CNN. "Basically, she was having a hard time trying to come back to the middle and then speak about it with any conviction. If you try to be somebody you're not, it's hard."

Manchin resisted entreaties that he run for president as an independent in 2024, lest he be a spoiler. But he said there was room for a real third party.

"The centrist part of both parties," he said on CNN. "So the centrist moderate vote decides who's going to be the president of the United States. And when they get here, they don't govern that way. Neither side does. They go to their respective corners. So if a centrist had a voice and had a party that could make both of these, the Democrat and Republican Party come back, OK, that would be something."

Manchin told CNN that the new organization would be called the American Party, and while he wouldn't lead it, "I'll be the best cheerleader they've ever had."

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