By EFE
May 31, 2024, 2:21 PM EDT
Washington – Senator Joe Manchin announced this Friday that he has left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent, arguing that both Democrats and Republicans have contributed to the polarization of the United States.
Although the senator had announced that he would not run for reelection, specialized media consider that the change in political affiliation opens the door for him to run as an independent for both the Senate and the governorship of West Virginia.
The senator’s defection is not surprising, since the legislator has on several occasions opposed the policies of the Democrats and President Joe Biden.
Manchin and another Democrat turned independent in 2022, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, helped counter the Biden Administration’s policy priorities in its first two years in office, when Democrats controlled both chambers along with the White House.
In a statement on the social network
“My commitment to do everything I can to unify that country has led me to register as an independent without party affiliation,” he said.
The senator, 76, has been a member of the Senate since 2010 for the state of West Virginia and between 2001 and 2005 he was governor of that state.