WASHINGTON (CN) — Senator Joe Manchin announced Thursday that he would not seek reelection next year, teeing up the end of his decadelong career as West Virginia’s senior senator.
“I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia,” said Manchin, first elected in 2010 to represent the Mountain State, in a prerecorded video address. “I’ve made one of the toughest decisions of my life and decided that I will not be running for reelection to the United States Senate.”
Manchin, 76, is in the last year of his term and was already facing competition for his Senate seat from West Virginia’s Republican Governor Jim Justice, who in April rolled out his campaign to unseat the Blue Dog Democrat.
It was not immediately clear whether Justice would have to face a Democratic challenger following Manchin’s departure.
The Mountain State’s lone Democrat in Congress, Manchin often staked out a moderate position on policy issues such as the budget and energy, sometimes putting him at odds with his colleagues.
In his Thursday video address, the lawmaker defended his centrist penchant, arguing that good ideas can come from both sides of the aisle.
“When America is at her best, we get things done by putting country over party, working across the aisle and finding common ground,” Manchin said. “Many times, this approach has landed me in hot water, but the fight to unite has been well worth it.”
Although West Virginia’s senior senator is leaving the halls of Congress, he hinted that his work in the political arena is not yet over.
“What I will be doing is traveling the country and speaking out to see if there’s an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together,” Manchin said.
The lawmaker has previously been critical of the two-party system in Congress and has publicly expressed interest in giving voters more options — fueling rumors that he was considering a third-party bid for the White House.
“I know our country isn’t as divided as Washington wants us to believe,” Manchin contended. “We need to take back America and not let this divisive hatred further pull us apart.”
During the last few years of his decade in the Senate, Manchin served as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he advocated for U.S. independence from foreign sources of energy and pushed for the expansion of nuclear power generation.
Before he was elected to the Senate, Manchin was governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010.
Justice, gunning for Manchin’s seat, has framed his candidacy as a bid to help Republicans wrest control of the Senate, where Democrats currently hold a slim majority. He has also thumped his record as West Virginia governor, where he took tough stances on abortion, crime and the Second Amendment.
Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia’s Republican senator, is backing the Mountain State governor’s ascent.
“This is about changing the agenda in Washington,” the lawmaker said during a campaign event in April. “It’s about setting an agenda for working families, for our children and for going back to conservative values.”
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