Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) will not seek the presidency and defiantly said “no” when asked if he would entertain being Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate.
The senator joined CBS Mornings on Monday after President Joe Biden ended his candidacy as the presumptive Democrat nominee and subsequently endorsed Harris to be his successor at the top of the ticket.
WATCH — Manchin: Biden Has Been Pushed to “Too Far Left” Positions He Doesn’t Believe by His Staff:
“I am not going to be a candidate for president,” Manchin told the program. “I am a candidate for basically speaking to the middle of this country.
Manchin also appeared on CNN’s This Morning with Kasie Hunt, where he put to rest any speculation he would run alongside Harris.
“Would you consider being Kamala Harris’s vice president,” Hunt asked the senator, who left the Democratic Party this year.
“No,” Manchin quickly responded. “I’m not a vi– it’s a new generation. You don’t want a 76-year-old vice president right now.”
“Well, do we want a 76-year-old president?” she responded.
“Well, if he feels like he’s 50, maybe,” he said.
His comments come as Harris appears to be the frontrunner for the nomination with Biden and the Clintons’ endorsements, as well as the endorsements of key rust belt state governors.
WATCH — Manchin: “Biden Owns” “Dangerous” Amount of Unvetted from Border in U.S., Dems Could Have Acted and Biden Must:
However, President Barack Obama and others have not backed Harris. Neither has Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
While Harris is the favorite to land the nomination with no apparent challenger at this time, there are a number of names being tossed around as potential vice-presidential candidates to run alongside her, including but not limited to Govs. Andy Beshear (D-KY), Roy Cooper (D-NC), Gavin Newsom (D-CA), JB Pritzker (D-IL), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
All of the above have endorsed Harris.
At the convention, 4,600 delegates will decide the Democrat presidential nominee rather than millions of voters who either voted for Biden or one of the lesser-known two Democratic candidates—Rep. Dean Phillips or self-help guru Marianne Willaimson—or stayed at home during the Democratic primary because there was no true challenger to the incumbent president.
