Manchin aims for 2-month tour to judge if voters want third-party run

Sen. Joe Manchin III on Tuesday said he’s hitting the road to see if a “movement” wants him to run for president in 2024 as a third-party candidate.

“I start in January. I’ll be two months on the road, and all we’re trying to do is mobilize people like myself who feel like they’re homeless, politically homeless,” Mr. Manchin said at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit. “I don’t recognize the Democratic Party, and I have a D by my name. I have a lot of Republicans that don’t recognize the Republican Party that have Rs by their name.”

“I don’t know if there’s a movement,” the West Virginia Democrat said. “I really don’t.”

Mr. Manchin announced last month that he wouldn’t seek reelection for his Senate seat. He has said he would consider a third-party bid only if he could win.

He said at the summit that he wouldn’t weigh in on what his political future holds.

“I have not made any of those predictions, and the reason I won’t make a prediction, what I can tell you is: There might be a movement, there might not. That depends. I really don’t know,” he said. “I will not be a spoiler. I’ve never been a spoiler in anything. I get into something, I get in to win.”

He said former President Donald Trump would “break” the system if he’s reelected since he “shook it up” the first time. He added that President Biden needs to “wake up” because he’s gone too far to the political left.

“It’s a hell of a conundrum we’re in,” he said.

The West Virginia lawmaker said he liked the group No Labels, which has been looking to get a third-party candidate on the ballot, because it offers an environment where “you can sit down and meet people on the other side and have an adult conversation.”