CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he’s looking for people he can work with on Capitol Hill.
“I’m just trying to find people that will work in the middle. You don’t see me going to the radicals on either side and I’m not beating up either side either,” he said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” with two weeks remaining before the Nov. 4 general election.
“The bottom line is that when I know people that you can sit and talk with them and they’ll look at all points of view and try to find the middle, I’m going to speak out.”
Manchin is speaking out by stepping forward to publicly support several Democratic candidates in West Virginia in the closing weeks of the midterm election cycle.
He was scheduled to be in Huntington on Tuesday afternoon for a Get Out the Vote Rally with Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, 3rd District Congressman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and others.
Manchin said Rahall, who was first elected in 1976, has seniority in the U.S. House of Representatives that can benefit West Virginia and has represented his district well for decades by, in Manchin’s view, being willing to put politics aside to do what’s best for the Mountain State.
“I don’t have enough help from the Democratic side, so when I find a good, moderate Democrat that’s willing to speak up and stand tall, I’m going to be out there speaking for them and Nick’s done that,” Manchin said of Rahall.
The Senator’s appeared in television ads for both Rahall and Nick Casey, the Democratic candidate in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
“He (Casey) understands what we are and who we are. He’s given something back. He contributes. There’s not a purer West Virginian than Nick,” Manchin said of Casey while challenging the motives of Casey’s Republican opponent in the 2nd District, Alex Mooney, a transplant from Maryland.
“Democracy is threatened right now if you can have very wealthy contributors, outside the state, that know nothing about (us), send surrogates in here and try to get them elected. Who do you think they’re going to be beholden to?”
Manchin serves as co-chair of the No Labels organization — a national movement that includes Democrats, Republicans and independents — which was formed in 2010 to focus on problem-solving without political labels.
Because of that, Manchin has vowed not to campaign against any of his sitting colleagues in the U.S. Senate.
He said he turned down an invitation to campaign on behalf of Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes who is challenging U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in Kentucky.
Manchin said he’s willing to work with Grimes or McConnell, no matter which candidate Kentucky’s voters send to Washington, D.C. when they go to the polls next month and he promised to do the same with those elected in West Virginia.
Hoppy Kercheval, host of MetroNews “Talkline,” asked Manchin about 2nd District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in West Virginia. Kercheval asked, “Can you work with her?” “Absolutely,” was Manchin’s reply.
Early voting begins on Wednesday morning throughout West Virginia and will continue through Saturday, Nov. 1.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.