West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin cited dysfunction in Congress as his decision to not launch a presidential campaign and declined to endorse President Joe Biden for re-election.
Manchin discussed his decision during a Monday night appearance on CNN with host Kaitlan Collins.
Collins asked Manchin about his recent decision against launching a presidential campaign, to which the West Virginia senator cited the recent bipartisan border package's failure to pass the Senate.
“I saw my friends walk away when they were determined to pass a border security, and they were on board three days before that,” Manchin said. “And with Donald Trump coming as hard as he came at them, they cower down and walked away."
"We’re not fixing anything in Washington," he asserted.
Collins asked if the West Virginia senator would endorse Biden for re-election, to which Manchin said he was not currently making any endorsements.
“We’re gonna see what all happens, we still got plenty of time here," Manchin said, adding Biden had moved too far to the left. "I’m gonna do everything I can to help move them back to the middle and show them where the strength of this country lies, where the voting bloc of the country lies, and extremes are going to be there no matter what. And I respect that. And I will do everything I can to make sure they have the ability to voice their opinion. But the minority does not rule the day.”
The CNN host asked about the perception of his declination to endorse Biden, to which Manchin said he was trying to do everything he could to ensure the political center of the country was represented, adding that included the "center-left and center-right."
“That’s where the decisions, that’s where people live their lives. That’s the type of government they want," he continued. "They don’t want the extremes. And what we’re seeing is extremes. Donald Trump is an extremist. And with that there’s people that are going in that direction. I still believe there’s enough good Republicans and Democrats that want this centrist type of approach to governing.”
Collins then asked who Manchin would support if Biden and Trump face off once again this November.
"We'll just have to see what happens. It's a long time before that happens right now," he said. "There might be other people getting in. There's still independents, there's still a third party run with no labels."
"We'll just see what opportunities and what type of options you have. All of us should be looking to that and then make the decision at that time," Manchin concluded.
