Manchin says Trump campaigning against him may, ‘help me,’ after former president makes 2024 threat

Sen. Joe Manchin Sunday dismissed former President Donald Trump saying he’ll campaign against him in 2024 due to his work on Democrats’ social spending bill, speculating Trump’s involvement could even help him win his election.

“He did it in 2018 and it helped me so I got elected then, so maybe he’ll help me again,” Manchin, D-W.Va., said when asked about Trump’s comment by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital’s Haris Alic reported Saturday that Trump lamented both Manchin and his fellow moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., in comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“What the happened to Manchin and Sinema, what the hell happened, where did this new philosophy come from,” Trump said. “I think if this deal passes, they will both lose their next election, I do believe that, West Virginia and Arizona will not stand for what they did to them.” 

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“I’ll go down [there] and campaign against him as hard as anybody can,” Trump added.

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West Virginia is a deep red state, and went for Trump by nearly 40 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election. Manchin, as a moderate Democrat, has managed to get elected there several times as governor, secretary of state and senator.

But Republicans are likely to target Manchin’s seat in 2024, especially in the wake of what they say is a “reckless” spending bill in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act.

“We’re going to be focused on that seat in 2024,” Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a statement this week.