Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has benefited from waiting to reveal where he stands as the swing vote in a chamber closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.
He’s taken the same approach when it comes to the next phase of his political career: The moderate Democrat has teased possible retirement, a run for reelection to the Senate or even a presidential campaign in 2024 — possibly as an independent candidate.
During a multi-day trip to West Virginia’s capital this week, the 76-year-old expressed growing frustration with the polarized U.S. two-party system.
Probably.
I should point out that RCV wouldn’t at all prevent people from running “spoiler” campaigns like this, it would actually encourage them. But they wouldn’t actually be spoilers the way they are now. They would just allow people a way to vote for candidates that more closely align to their actual beliefs without that also meaning that the lesser of evils would get a de facto vote out of it.
I think it would be disastrous for the GOP in particular, but honestly even Democrats are often against RCV because it would remove many of them from power as well.