President Trump on Friday warned supporters in West Virginia not to be fooled by Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin’s vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
He said Mr. Manchin isn’t an ally and West Virginia voters should toss him out in Tuesday’s election.
“A vote for Joe is a vote for Schumer,” he told a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, where he stumped for Republican challenger Patrick Morrisey.
The president described the vote for Justice Kavanaugh as a show vote that didn’t really help win confirmation or change Mr. Manchin’s allegiance to Senate Democrat leader Charles E. Schumer.
Mr. Trump said that it was a split-second after Republicans mustered enough votes to confirm Justice Kavanaugh when Mr. Manchin cast the sole Democrat “yes” in the 50-48 vote.
“We had all the votes so we didn’t need Joe’s vote,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he asked Mr. Manchin days before the confirmation vote to announce his support for the nominee. But he said Mr. Manchin kept putting off the decision.
“Joe said, ’I’ll think about it,’” Mr. Trump recounted. “There’s nobody smoother than Joe.”
Someone in the crowd shouted out Mr. Schumer’s name.
“He’s smoother than Schumer, actually,” said Mr. Trump.
West Virginia Democrat Party insiders said Mr. Trump promised not to campaign in the state if Mr. Manchin voted for Justice Kavanauagh.
The president’s version of the vote would explain why his rally for Mr. Morrisey didn’t break that pledge.
“I like Joe, he’s a friend of mine. I’m just not going to get his vote,” Mr. Trump said.
The confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh, who weathered a series of 11th-hour sexual misconduct allegations that nearly derailed his nomination, energized Republican voters in the midterms.
Mr. Manchin is one of the last moderate Democrats in the Senate. But he was put in Republicans’ crosshairs this election after Mr. Trump won West Virginia in a 42-point landslide in 2016.
Mr. Manchin led Mr. Morrisey by nearly 9 points in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls in the state.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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