If Democratic political expert David Axelrod is right, Republicans can expect to flip at least one U.S. Senate seat currently held by a Democrat next November.
According to Axelrod, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is a “dead man walking” — politically speaking, of course.
“I don’t want to be unkind to Sen. Manchin, but he’s kind of dead man walking in West Virginia. There is nowhere for him to go,” Axelrod said Monday on CNN.
The current political landscape in West Virginia supports Axelrod’s thesis, he explained, noting the overwhelming margin by which Donald Trump won the Mountain State in 2020.
“[Manchin has] got a popular Republican governor in a state that Donald Trump carried by almost 40 points. He didn’t win by very much last time. So he knows that he can’t win re-election in that state,” Axelrod explained.
The former campaign manager for Barack Obama was responding to comments that Manchin made over the weekend.
Although he is up for re-election in the Senate, Manchin’s name is being tossed around as a potential third-party candidate in the presidential race.
The New York Times reported last month that No Labels, a bipartisan group focused on political unity, is hoping to field a “unity ticket” for the 2024 presidential election. The person at the top of the list to lead that ticket is Manchin, the newspaper reported.
Over the weekend, Manchin did not rule out running as a third-party candidate.
Moreover, Axelrod is right about Manchin’s re-election hopes, which are worse than bleak. Just last week, a new poll showed that Manchin is trailing Gov. Jim Justice (R) in a hypothetical Senate matchup for the 2024 election by more than 20 points. Justice is popular and has a good chance of winning the Republican primary.
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