After years of speculation, Sen. Joe Manchin has officially left the Democratic Party, and the West Virginia senator is now a registered independent.
Manchin had long presented himself as a moderate, facilitating his political survival in one of the most Republican states in the union. It wasn’t immediately clear if the move was a setup for him to backtrack on not running for re-election in the Senate or to stage a late gubernatorial bid.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) officially left the Democratic Party on Friday and registered as an independent.
Why it matters: Manchin, who flirted with an independent presidential bid earlier this year, has said he’s not running for Senate re-election. But leaving the party could give him the flexibility to change tack and run for Senate or West Virginia governor as an independent.
With all due respect to West Virginians, if they fall for this,…
