Joe Manchin Further Fuels Biden Challenge Speculation, Skipping White House Celebration
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Senator Joe Manchin will not be in attendance for a White House celebration of the Inflation Reduction Act.
This has furthered speculation that he may challenge Joe Biden.
When President Joe Biden marks the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act next week with a major celebration at the White House, one prominent invited guest is not expected to be in the crowd.
The decision by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to skip the White House’s campaign-style affair highlighting the climate and health spending law he helped write — and name — is just the latest sign of an increasingly fraught relationship between Manchin, a conservative Democrat, and the Biden administration.
Manchin is openly flirting with a third-party run for the presidency in 2024, a move that could upend Biden’s prospects of winning re-election. Even if Manchin doesn’t take that controversial step, he is already trying to demonstrate greater independence from the White House ahead of another possible Senate run in his deeply Republican state. And Thursday, he said he is “absolutely” considering changing his party affiliation from Democrat to independent.
“I’ve been thinking about that for quite some time,” he told a West Virginia radio host.
A White House official attempted to downplay this.
A senior White House official downplayed Manchin’s absence at next week’s event as not a huge deal since it was taking place during a congressional recess.
“We will keep finding ways to work together,” the senior White House official referred to Manchin, according to the outlet, adding that Biden’s team still worked closely with the senator.
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