Sens. Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski said Sunday they would endorse one another in their upcoming elections.
Manchin, D-W.Va., and Murkowski, R-Alaska, appeared together on CNN’s State of the Union in a rare show of election support across party lines.
“I’m endorsing my dear friend Lisa Murkowski. Alaska could only be so lucky to have her continue to serve them,” Manchin said, as Murkowski faces a primary challenge from Republican Kelly Tshibaka, a former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
“It’s hypocritical to basically work with a person day-in and day-out, and then when they’re in cycle, you’re supposed to be against them because they have an R or D by their name.”
Murkowski has faced backlash from the party after she was among a handful of Republicans and independents who voted to impeach Trump in January for inciting the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
The Alaska Republican State Central Committee formally endorsed Tshibaka in July, citing her impeachment vote.
Murkowski said she would also lend her endorsement to Manchin should he choose to seek re-election in 2024.
Manchin, who has also found himself at odds with his party as he has withheld his vote from several key pieces of legislation in President Joe Biden’s agenda including his signature Build Back Better plan, said he expects support from Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer despite the rift.
“No way, shape or form will (Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell or Chuck Schumer not support their caucus. It just doesn’t happen,” he said, adding he has spoken to Schumer “about that and everything” in recent days.
Manchin said he had also had recently spoken with Biden but said they did not discuss legislation.
“We’ve had a conversation but really didn’t get into that. Right now our main concern is get a budget,” he said
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Well, Joe—we got a little more from you than we expected, but we knew it wouldn’t last.
YEa, once a swamp pig, ALWAYS a swamp pig…
Get ready for the usual Democrat inspired divide and conquer Conservatives, when the RINO loses the primary, but carries enough votes to run as an independent and split the conservative vote for a Democrat seat win. It’s the same old game plan with nothing new under the sun. Throw in promises of more $2000 stimulus checks to buy votes of the voting brain dead, and its Democrat mission accomplished. Get ready for more Democrats voting in the Republican primary than Republicans, many imported radical college students from out of state. The entire state only has a population of about 730,000 of which many are too young to vote.,,,about the population of Ft. Worth Texas. These high stakes can be cheaply bought. Perhaps Alaska is where Joe is flying, busing the million illegals who have already crossed the Texas border, trained and instructed on how to fill out a mail-in ballot.
Joe Manchin voted for Obamacare and voted to impeach Trump. The people that want Manchin to switch to the Republican Party better wake up! We do not need any more socialist RINOS in our party! What the heck were some so called Conservatives thinking, when they want / wanted Manchin to switch parties?
Exactly!! We need the voters of West Virginia to wake up and vote for a real Conservative, not someone like Manchin who fakes being “moderate,” but most of the time he is still very liberal!
Having Manchin cross party lines to be a Republican would not be huge benefit to the GOP, because he would just enlarge the spineless Rhino camp!
I had HIGH HOPES, for joe.. BUT THIS shows he was trying to fool us all…
“It’s hypocritical to basically work with a person day-in and day-out, and then when they’re in cycle, you’re supposed to be against them because they have an R or D by their name.”
Well, that’s why they call each other “the opposing party”.
The object is to get an “opposing party” politicians out of office and get a member of your OWN party installed so that your like-minded constituents may have a government that better reflects their concerns and values.
The other view is that once you get to D.C. you’re all a bunch of money grubbing pimps and sell outs and the party lines vanish in a Country Club atmosphere of no accountability.
Right from her first day she has shown that she is a Marxist/democrat who ran as a Republican. The actual definition for trash like her (and Romney-Cheney et al) is R.I.N.O. Please do not refer to her as Republican or God forbid a Conservative.
Joe is a RINO version of the dummycrat party so it stands to reason he would endorse Lizzy M. The only surprise to me is that he made it public but I’m glad he did because it clearly shows if he switched parties he’d be a RINO.