Those two Democrats have come out against Democrats in the Senate getting rid of the filibuster….
Other Senate Democrats and probably President Biden do NOT support this….
Manchin in particular tends to be VERY conservative, but Democrats NEED the two senator’s regardless right now…
Besides?
There is little to no chance a progressive challenge would prevail in West Virginia….
Up until Election Day there was a dropping of the Democratic political war between the left and moderates…
It appears the early 2022 skirmishes have begun….
Manchin is widely viewed as one of the few Democrats who could hold a seat in West Virginia, which has become increasingly red over the past two decades — the progressive PAC admitted there is no Democratic bench in the state. Arizona, however, could provide more opportunities as a purple state that is now represented by two Democrats in the Senate. In November, the state voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1996.
No Excuses PAC predicted it could raise several millions of dollars to campaign against Manchin and Sinema.
“If it comes down to an actual vote on modifying the filibuster and it just won’t pass because of these two, then people are going to be so angry that there will be that national base of donors who really, really love to donate to a campaign to unseat these guys,” said Exley. “It won’t be any problem to raise many, many millions of dollars in that scenario.”
When pressed on the strength of Manchin’s name ID and history of winning in a red state, the group responded that Manchin could be vulnerable to a GOP challenge — pointing to recent comments by Republican Gov. Jim Justice supporting a large stimulus package.
There is a sense of urgency in pushing the two moderate Democrats early in Biden’s presidency, when the party has its best shot at passing big coronavirus relief and other items on Biden’s agenda, Chakrabarti said.
“Pressuring them in 2022 when Dems may no longer have a majority won’t do much,” he said. He added No Excuses PAC is “not looking for more left-leaning Democrats” but rather ones who won’t protect the filibuster.
In addition to searching for challengers to Manchin and Sinema, the group may get involved in open Senate races in Pennsylvania and Ohio in 2022. They also aren’t ruling out a challenge to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, though they are encouraged by Schumer’s bullishness so far in pushing through Biden’s big relief bill with or without Republicans….
Bernie Sanders beat Hillary in a West Virginia primary by 15 points, so who knows?
Sounds like some Guerilla Warfare at play in West Virginia and Arizona.
Yup CG….
And 8 years before that Hillary easily beat Obama in the WV Democratic primary. In 2012 an unknown ex convict running in the Democratic presidential primary got 30%.
West Virginia votes late in the process and you have a lot of ancestral “Democrats” who have no intention of voting for a Democratic nominee in the fall voting in the Democratic primary. They are almost uniformly unhappy with the party front runner–whoever he or she is–and take it out in their primary vote.
In other words I wouldn’t put too much stock in the state’s presidential primary.
Actually, the guy got 41% of the vote and he was a felon who was serving time (not an ex felon).
West Virginia sure hated Obama.
Hard to believe that WV voted for Dukakis. It is now clearly one of the reddest states in the country.
The decimation of unions and non college educated rural whites voting on “God gays and guns” over economic advancement led to that seismic shift in West Virginia.
One really cannot appreciate how much cultural issues have taken over the Republican Party in rural white areas, especially in the South, unless you’ve lived or traveled extensively there.
What happened in West Virginia happened in other states too. But WV is overwhelmingly white and has far fewer minorities than most other states. So it is more pronounced without urban and black voters to temper the rightward shift.
As Zreebs points out WV used to vote Democratic even when GOP nominees won 40 states like Bush did in 1988. Hell the Mountain Stare stuck with Carter over Reagan in 1980
Should say “WV is overwhelmingly white and has fewer urban areas than most states”
Vermont is overwhelmingly white and has fewer urban areas than most states as well, right?
Vermont has a highly educated overall population though.
Yep, and West Virginia is relatively poorly educated.
The Leader of the Republican Party loves the poorly educated. And in a state like West Virginia it’s clear they love him back!
West Virginia has no urban areas! No city has a population of 100,000.
In my business travels to West Virginia, I also went to Morgantown, which if I recall correctly is West Virginia’s least conservative city, and the home of UWV. This is one of the state’s largest cities, but It sure felt like I was in the sticks.
I have traveled a lot through West Virginia. West Virginia really is a beautiful state – as nice as any – although mining has taken a large toll on the state’s natural beauty. I would consider retiring there (I ❤️ mountains) but I have very little in common with these people, so WV does not get a rose.
Thanks for the view Z…..
It’s all about coal in West Virginia and the traditional Democrats there did vote to punish Hillary over comments she made by voting for Bernie.
They apparently did not see the irony in voting for the *more* anti-coal candidate.
Nonetheless, Republicans are moving towards “the right” and Democrats are moving towards the left in every state of the country. If there was a well-organized effort to oppose Manchin in a primary, with national money, it could yield the potential for a wide range of outcomes.
I really don’t believe that Manchin would lose in Democratic primary. Despite what most people here believe, There are states that a progressive candidate will do very well, but almost everyone knows West Virginia is not one of them.
Still too early to determine if Manchin will win in 2024. I wouldn’t count him out though.
West Virginia Democrats nominated a very far left U.S. Senate candidate in 2020 over “moderate” opponents who were favored.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_West_Virginia
Incumbency might help Manchin, who is a political institution in the state perhaps, but clearly, a “progressive” candidate can win in West Virginia.
While delving into that Wikipedia article, I looked up its lists of U.S. Senators from Arizona & West Va, and was surprised to find that Shelley Moore Capito is the first Republican to represent the Mountain State in the Senate since the Eisenhower years (the 1950’s).
When doing the kind of presidential-election speculation that many of us here do, I always started the certain Democratic column with D.C., R.I., Mass., Hawaii and West Virginia to balance states like Utah, Nebraska and Alaska in the certain Republican one.
Although Civil War history (when Mountaineers refused to join the rest of Virginia in seceding and formed their own state in 1864) gave West Virginia Republican tinge until the 1920’s she voted for Democratic presidential candidates (except when everyone Liked Ike) solidly until the sharp “God, Guns & Gays” election of 2000, engineered by Don Blankenship and his allies. Since then its voted for all the Republicans: GWBush (twice), McCain, Romney and Trump (twice).
Arizona also used to be a pretty Democratic state, influenced by copper-miners and their unions in the same way that the coal-miners dominated West Virginia. Both states, should you look at history, had extremely bloody and violent battles between the miners and the mine-owners (see e.g. The Bisbee Deportation (1917) and Battle of Matewan (1922)).
But in the late 1940’s (Ariz voted for Truman in 1948) and early 1950’s, Barry Goldwater, Paul Fannin and their colleagues reorganized and reinvigorated the Arizona Republican Party, leading to Goldwater’s defeat of conservative Democratic Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland in 1952. In 1964, Arizona (by only 5,000 votes) was the only state to vote for Goldwater’s presidential candidacy outside the Southeastern Dixiecratic Black Belt.
If I felt that the Democratic nominee was going to lose anyway, I would prefer a nominee that would effectively articulate my values. There aren’t many Democrats who can win in WV, but Manchin is one of them.
I agree with Zreebs.
Remember when Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform (starve government until it’s small enough to be dragged to the bathtub and drowned) declared that the election of a Republican (very liberal Lincoln Chafee) was a gift from the Gods and not to be despised.
Democrats should also meet voters where they are, and not where they wish they would be.
That’s not a universal law: liberals (or relative liberals) in conservative states have successfully defeated blue-dog incumbents in Democratic primaries and then the Republican challenger. But that’s relatively uncommon and usually happens in states with some discernible blue shift (e.g. Arizona, Georgia or North Carolina) rather than solidly conservative ones (like West Virginia).
Omission above:
“Remember when Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform (starve government until it’s small enough to be dragged to the bathtub and drowned) declared that the election of a Republican ^ in Rhode Island ^ (very liberal Lincoln Chafee) was a gift from the Gods and not to be despised.
Tell’m DSD!
And Joe is running out of time. As West Virginia loses even more people (it will lose a Congressional seat after redistricting) they are also losing folks with an education. Folks there with be voting Q all the way.
So, there isn’t really any comparison between WV and Vermont for so many many reasons. WV is basically Kentucky on more crack without any large metropolitan areas, black people, or college graduates.
Zreebs is completely right. The State is actually very beautiful (Greenbrier and all) and lots of folks from the DC area have weekend homes there. But, the folks that live there full time are something else indeed.
Joe will end up doing the right thing (today’s vote proved that).
Jonathan Martin
@jmartNYT
Rs have pushed Manchin to change parties but I found zero concern among Dems.
“He’s too old to do that shit,” said
@jontester
More to the pt, it’s who he is — a Catholic of Italian descent shaped by JFK in WV’s epic ‘60 primary