Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia and his daughter are pitching big donors on a new $100 million project that looks to boost centrist politicians and policies.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the senator’s daughter, Heather Manchin, said she registered a new politically active nonprofit entity called Americans Together a little more than one month ago. The group plans to start hiring staffers in the coming weeks.
Heather Manchin, who was once the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, said that the nonprofit wouldn’t be linked to the political future of her father, as he’s facing an uncertain path ahead once his current term in the Senate ends in 2024.
As she commented to the Journal:
“What we both very much agree on is the system is very broken and actually in deep trouble. We have been thinking about what can be done to bring people together.”
Manchin hasn’t announced whether he’ll be running for re-election for the Senate in 2024 yet. If he were to decide to run again, he may face an uphill battle. He only won a very narrow victory the last time around, as he’s a moderate Democrat in a state that leans very heavily toward Republicans.
Republican Governor Jim Justice has already announced that he’ll be running for the U.S. Senate seat, and he would be the most likely person that Manchin would face off against – if he’s even able to make it out of the Democratic primary in the state.
A May poll showed that Justice had a sizeable lead of 54% to 32% in a hypothetical election against Manchin. The same poll showed that Manchin would stand a better chance against Republican Representative Alex Mooney who also announced that he’s running for the Senate seat.
Manchin has also suggested recently that he could become an independent and leave the Democratic Party, and he’s even considered running for president.
For its recent report, the Journal said they spoke to multiple major donors who had discussed the new venture with Manchin and his daughter. They all said that there wasn’t any specific request made of them, and that the meetings they have had consisted of “a vaguely defined future.”
A memo that the Manchins sent to potential donors, that the Journal viewed, described their new project as a coalition that would “mobilize the middle … [and] change the national narrative and garner support for those willing to prioritize policy and country over party and politics.”
The Journal further reported that it wasn’t clear immediately how the Manchins’ new group, Americans Together, would end up distinguishing itself and its aims from other already-established groups such as No Labels that promote centrist policies and candidates.
Manchin has appeared at some events that No Labels has hosted. That being said, Heather Manchin said No Labels and Americans Together aren’t affiliated with each other.
