Sen. Joe Manchin says he would 'absolutely' consider a presidential run in 2024

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., indicated in an interview Wednesday that he would consider running for president in 2024 after announcing earlier this month he won’t seek reelection to the U.S. Senate. 

When asked in an NBC interview whether he is considering running for president, Machin said, “I will do anything I can to help my country, and you're saying, 'Does that mean you would consider it?' Absolutely.”

“Every American should consider it if they're in a position to help save the country," he said. “I think we are on the wrong course.”

Manchin said that he is “absolutely scared to death” that Donald Trump would get elected to the White House again, referencing the former president’s name-calling and refusal to accept the 2020 election results. 

“That’s not the country we are,” Manchin said. “That’s not how we became the country. And I’m afraid that Joe Biden’s been pushed too far to the left. Can he come back? We’ll see.” 

Manchin had previously flirted with the idea of running as a third-party candidate with No Labels, an organization that embraces centrist policies, saying that the “political parties have not delivered” in a July town hall. 

In a Paste BN op-ed, he wrote that extremist Democrats and Republicans are threatening America’s future.

After announcing he wouldn't run to keep his Senate seat, Manchin said in a video on X, formerly Twitter, that he would be “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 has been a senator since 2010, serving as a Democrat in a red state and often calling out his Democratic colleagues and President Joe Biden over issues such as the debt ceiling.