Manchin confirms he has 'no intention' of leaving Democratic Party

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday confirmed that he does not plan to leave the Democratic Party amid speculation about his future status following the departure of Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema last week.

"I've always looked [at] all these things but I have no intention of doing anything right now," he told reporters of a potential party switch, refusing to rule out such a move in the future, per The Hill. "Whether I do something later, I can't tell you what the future's going to bring. I can only tell you where I am and my mindset."

Sinema, a longtime moderate in Congress, opted to leave the party saying she had grown disillusioned with the polarization in politics between the two major parties. "When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans' lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans," she said at the time.

Manchin faces reelection in 2024 in heavily red West Virginia. He has not formally announced his intent to seek a fourth term.

The moderate Democrat recently suffered a political setback at the hands of progressives within his own party. In exchange for his vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Manchin struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass a separate energy permitting reform bill that could expedite completion of a major pipeline project in his home state.

Progressive backlash over environmental concerns, however, rendered Schumer unable to deliver on his end of the bargain and Manchin has thus far been unable to secure his plan's passage via other routes.

Manchin and Sinema have long presented significant barriers to the party's legislative agenda, repeatedly espousing support for the Senate's filibuster threshold, which many Democrats had sought to remove to allow for the upper chamber to ram through partisan legislation without GOP input.

He threatened to become an independent last year, saying, per The Hill, that "I said, me being a moderate centrist Democrat, if that causes you a problem, let me know and I'd switch to be an independent. But I'd still be caucusing with Democrats."