Manchin doubts Biden in 2024, Dem majorities now

WASHINGTON » Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the Democrats’ most conservative and contrarian members, declined on Sunday to endorse Joe Biden if the president seeks a second term in 2024 and refused to say whether he wants Democrats to retain control of Congress after the November elections.

In a round of appearances on five news shows, the West Virginia senator said he hopes Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., will back a Democratic package of climate, health care and tax initiatives he negotiated. She joined Manchin last year in forcing cuts and changes in larger versions of the plan, and support from every Democrat in the 50-50 Senate — plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote — is needed to overcome Republican opposition in votes expected this week. Sinema has declined to tell her stance.

“I would like to think she would be favorable toward it,” he said.

But beyond that, Manchin demurred when pressed about supporting his party or its nominee for president in upcoming elections.

“I’m not getting into 2022 or 2024,” he said, adding that “whoever is my president, that’s my president.”

Manchin said control of Congress will be determined by the choices of voters in individual states, rather than his own preferences. People “are sick and tired of politics,” he said, and want their representatives in Washington to put country over party.

The senator faces reelection in 2024 in a state where Donald Trump prevailed in every county in the past two presidential races, winning more than two-thirds of West Virginia’s voters. But in distancing himself from fellow Democrats, Manchin also tried to decry the rise of partisanship and suggested America’s path forward will need to move beyond traditional party-line politics.

His national TV interviews culminated a high-profile week in which his compromise with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revived a package of White House priorities on climate, health care, taxes and deficit reduction. Manchin had torpedoed a grander plan last December and previously lowered expectations about a substantial agreement being reached.

Both he and Sinema were previously aligned in opposing plans from Democratic senators to spend as much as $3.5 trillion on a climate and social justice bill. Sinema, however, was cut out of the most recent discussions on the bill, which would narrow the so-called carried interest loophole, bringing in $14 billion of the proposal’s $739 billion in new revenues. Sinema has previously opposed that.