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.
Yes, thinking every vote should count equally is very exclusionary. They get two senators for 1.7M people. Multiple cities are larger than that. You expand that to metro areas to include the suburbs and there are states that have multiple cities with a higher population than WV.
I’m sorry that I think every vote should count equally and don’t support the system that was built and modified to maintain slavery. The constitution was written by a bunch of racist, sexist, classist old white dudes 236 years ago. I think we can change some things to make democracy, actually work like it’s supposed to.