Manchin says he’s still weighing presidential bid against Biden

Sen. Joe Manchin III on Wednesday said running for president against Joe Biden was still on the table, marking the first time the West Virginia Democrat has confessed as much since announcing last week he won’t seek reelection next year.

“I will do anything I can to help my country, and if you’re saying, ‘Does that mean you would consider?’ Absolutely,” Mr. Manchin told NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “Every American should consider if they’re in a position to help save the country. I think we’re on the wrong course, so I will do everything possible.”

Mr. Manchin has long flirted with an independent run with a Republican on a unity ticket backed by political group No Labels. In his retirement statement last week, he teased that his political future includes “traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.”

Though few of Mr. Manchin’s Democratic colleagues take his White House ambitions seriously, Mr. Biden’s team remains concerned about what it could mean for the incumbent’s reelection campaign.

In the NBC interview, Mr. Manchin took shots at Mr. Biden and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. The senator described the president as being “pushed too far to the left” and Mr. Trump as a threat to democracy.

“There’s not many of us centrists left, and if I can reinvigorate that, I will do everything that I possibly can,” Mr. Manchin said. “I’m totally, absolutely scared to death that Donald Trump would become president again. I think we will lose our democracy as we know it. My reason for saying that is you can’t normalize this visceral hatred, calling people names and attacking people. You can’t basically think the only fair election is the one you win and the only laws pertain to everybody but you.”

Mr. Manchin’s retirement all but ensures Republicans will gain control of the red state’s seat, throwing Democrats’ chances of keeping majority control of the Senate into jeopardy.