Staff Reports
The Senate has been hit with some surprising retirements recently, with both Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) announcing their intentions to step down. This has sparked speculation about what these centrist lawmakers will do next. One group, the Draft Romney Manchin Committee, has wasted no time in trying to get the two senators to team up for a bipartisan presidential ticket. They filed with the Federal Election Commission and are planning to make an announcement soon, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Now, you may be wondering why on earth someone would want these two guys to run together. Well, they are being pushed to run as a unity ticket, backed by the No Labels group. No Labels is still deciding on their possible third-party ticket and sees potential in Romney and Manchin. The idea would be for Romney to be the presidential candidate and Manchin to be his running mate.
Manchin and Romney spark third-party presidential rumors after both announce retirement
DETAILS: https://t.co/bLaNx5Mhuo https://t.co/bLaNx5Mhuo
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 10, 2023
But wait a minute, there’s a catch. The Draft Romney Manchin Committee is not actually affiliated with Romney or Manchin. They are just doing their own thing. And while Manchin hasn’t ruled out any possibilities, Romney’s office has made it clear that he has zero interest in running for president. In fact, he announced his retirement to make way for the “next generation of leaders.” So it seems like this unity ticket may be a long shot.
However, both Romney and Manchin are known for breaking with their parties on key issues, which has caught the attention of No Labels. This group wants to provide a third-party option for voters who don’t want to see President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump win in 2024. They see themselves as an “insurance policy” against divisive candidates. Some people think this is a bad idea, arguing that third-party candidates usually don’t do well. But No Labels claims that their polling shows Biden losing to Trump in battleground states when a third-party candidate is introduced, proving their theory wrong.
So, what can we learn from all of this? Well, it seems like there are some folks out there who are desperate for a new kind of politics. They want politicians who aren’t afraid to break from their party and work across the aisle. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The chances of a Romney-Manchin ticket actually happening seem slim. And even if it did, it’s unclear how much support they would actually get. So for now, we’ll just have to wait and see what these two retiree senators have planned for their next adventures.
