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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday night will headline a New Hampshire town hall hosted by a nonprofit that is pushing for a third-party “unity” ticket in the 2024 presidential race.
The West Virginia senator will speak at the No Labels town hall in the early-voting state. Manchin has not revealed if he will seek re-election for his Senate seat and said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” in early June that he is “not ruling anything out” when it comes to a third-party presidential run.
“Our political discourse is lacking engaged debates around common sense solutions to solve the pressing issues facing our nation,” Manchin said in a statement about Monday’s event. “I am looking forward to modeling this type of conversation with my good friend, Gov. Huntsman, and the No Labels community,” he added, referring to former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a Republican.
Though Manchin is probably the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, he would almost certainly face a tough battle for re-election in his state, which voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is seeking the Republican nomination in the Senate race.
The West Virginia seat has outsize importance as Democrats look to maintain their narrow control of the Senate in 2024.
No Labels, whose event Manchin is headlining, says it has been “laying the groundwork for a potential independent unity ticket in 2024.”
The organization says it plans to put forward such a ticket in 2024 unless polling shows that the major parties see “the growing voice and leverage of the commonsense majority, and nominate candidates and release policy platforms that cater to the needs of this majority.”
Some of Manchin’s colleagues are less impressed with No Label’s goals. Arizona Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he’s discussed the issue of third-party tickets with Manchin and that he does not “think No Labels is a political party.”
Kelly added: “I mean, this is a few individuals putting dark money behind an organization. And that’s not what our democracy should be about.”
Much of the concern surrounding No Labels has to do with a lack of transparency around its fundraising. Groups in Arizona are suing to keep No Labels candidates off the ticket in that state, partly because it does not disclose its donors.
No Labels has gotten on the ballot in states including Arizona, Colorado, Alaska and Oregon.
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