Sinema of Arizona announced Thursday she changed her party registration from Democrat to independent, sparking speculation that Manchin, also a centrist, could follow. As a Democrat, Sinema often joined Manchin in blocking key elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda while also opposing ending the filibuster—a procedural rule that requires 60 votes to end debate on a bill—to pass legislation without Republican support.
Sinema said her party switch would not affect her votes, and is still expected to caucus with Democrats in a similar fashion to Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont or Angus King of Maine. Some political analysts have long questioned if Manchin would become an independent as he finds himself at growing odds with other Democrats.
However, Christie, touting his relationship as Manchin’s mentee, cast doubt that Manchin would ever join Sinema in switching parties during an appearance on ABC News’ This Week.
“He’s never going to be a Republican in my view,” Christie, a Republican, said. “I think Joe Manchin is a Democrat going all the way back to his mom and dad. It’s part of who he is.”
He said that Manchin is a “very different kind of Democrat” than others in Washington, D.C., adding he proved himself as a “formidable candidate” during the 2018 election, when Manchin won his Senate race by about 3 percentage points, despite the state being seen as reliably Republican.
“My guess is that Joe Manchin will just continue to be Joe Manchin, and he thinks that if he wants to run for reelection that that’s going to be good enough for him to beat any Republican that we put up anyway,” Christie added.
Manchin is again up for reelection in 2024 and is expected to face steep odds in a presidential year, which is expected to draw greater voter turnout than when Manchin won reelection in 2018. At the time, he benefited from a boost in Democratic turnout in the “blue wave.”
Meanwhile, Manchin offered in 2021 to become an independent, who caucuses with Democrats, during a disagreement about a $3.5 trillion social infrastructure bill that he ultimately killed. No one accepted his offer and he initially dismissed reports that he considered leaving the Democratic Party.
“I’ll be very honest. The only thing that was ever said—that we’ve ever talked about if I’m an embarrassment to my Democratic colleagues, my caucus—the president being the leader of the Democratic Party, [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and all of them, and I said me being a moderate centrist Democrat, if that causes you a problem let me know and I’d switch to be an independent,” Manchin told Fox News at the time.
Newsweek reached out to Manchin’s office for comment.
