If you’ve watched or read the news for any amount of time you’ve probably heard of Joe Manchin. You’ve probably heard that Joe Manchin is a conservative “Democrat” who wouldn’t stop at anything to ruin Biden’s agenda. And while this is true, we need to ask why? Why is Manchin so moderate? Well first we have to look at the state that he represents, which is West Virginia. Manchin is from a deep red state, which voted for Trump by more then 38 points in 2020. If he’s going to win re – election in 2024, he can’t be as left as a senator from a safe blue state would be, which is the reason he won’t kill the filibuster, and wants a compromise bill on every issue that the Republicans have a very less chance of supporting. Additionally, if Manchin wasn’t a senator, then its almost certain that West Virginia would fill his seat with a Republican. But this argument is flawed. That’s because Manchin will be up next in 2024, an election year. If it is virtually assured that a Republican would win on the presidential level, voters who voted for that Republican would be more likely to vote for a Republican down ballot. West Virginia is essentially guaranteed to be a Republican pick up in 2024. To wrap up, the point you should be taking with you after reading this is that Manchin should stop thinking about how he can somehow pull of an upset in 2024, and instead set aside his personal agenda to support the larger Democrat platform.
