Sen. Joe Manchin. | Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Sen. Joe Manchin will endorse Joe Biden for president, putting to bed any thought that he might not support the Democratic presidential nominee this time around.
The conservative West Virginia Democrat said in an interview on Thursday that he’s working with Biden, the presumptive nominee, on an endorsement that will come in tandem with a plan to help shield his state from job loss. It’s not a given that Manchin would support Democrats’ presidential platform: He nearly pulled his endorsement from Hillary Clinton in 2016 after she suggested she’d put coal miners out of work, did not support President Barack Obama in 2012 and was recoiling at the thought of Bernie Sanders as Democrats’ nominee this year.
But Manchin has been talking to the Biden campaign since the former vice president won South Carolina’s primary, and said he feels comfortable with Biden and his outreach to Appalachia, where energy jobs are a key part of the economy and politics. Asked on Thursday whether he’d endorse Biden, Manchin replied: “I will, absolutely.”
“I’m just trying to make sure that we’re working through a plan,” he said. “I’ve been working and talking to different people. We’re definitely getting there. You just can’t leave people behind that did the heavy lifting and that’s worked hard, whether it’s producing coal or producing energy for this country. They just need an opportunity to live their lives and have that opportunity. And I think Joe Biden understands that.”
The move comes during an unmistakable coalescing around Biden after Sanders suspended his campaign. Obama endorsed Biden this week, as did Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another former 2020 rival.
Sen. Joe Manchin will back Biden for president
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