GOP steps up flirtation with Manchin
Republicans are flirting with Sen.
Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as he faces backlash from his own party over his opposition to Build Back Better.
GOP senators, most of whom are friendly with Manchin, are making it clear they would welcome him into their caucus, where they think he would be a good fit given West Virginia’s deep-red political leanings.
Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is leading a public blitz to make sure Manchin knows that he has a home in the Senate GOP caucus, if he wants one.
“He feels like a man alone. If he were to join us he would be joining a lot of folks who have similar views on a whole range of issues,” McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt this week.
Leaning into the discussion, McConnell’s staff blasted out the GOP leader’s comments to The New York Times, where he had said that Republicans “would love to have him on our team.”
Sen.
Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), during an interview with Fox News, said that Republicans would “welcome him with open arms,” while Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said at a conservative conference this week that he had recently pitched Manchin on switching parties, telling him that, “Look, one of the two parties actually likes you.”
“I hope he does. I’ve asked him to. I think every Republican senator has made that case to Joe,” Cruz said, while acknowledging that switching parties could be a “tough hill to climb” for Manchin, who has decades-long ties to the Democratic Party.
“I think Manchin is discovering is there just aren’t any Democrats left in the Senate that are pro-life, terribly concerned about debt, deficit and inflation,” McConnell told Hewitt.
Sen.
John Cornyn (R-Texas), a close McConnell ally, said he texted Manchin on Tuesday, “Joe if they don’t want you we do.”
“We’d love to have him. That would change the majority,” Cornyn told KXAN, a Austin-based TV station owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
A significant hurdle to the GOP’s efforts to convince Manchin to change sides is that in the Democratic majority he wields the Energy and Natural Resources gavel, giving him considerable sway over issues important to his home state.
Switching parties would put him at risk of losing the top spot. McConnell, asked during the Hewitt interview if Manchin could hold onto his gavel if he flipped parties, made no commitments but said that “all of those things are things we would discuss.”
“I mean, it wouldn't bother me as a conservative Republican to have him in charge of that committee,” said Scott Jennings, a former McConnell campaign aide and founding partner of RunSwitch Public Relations.
“That's a small price to pay to get Republicans in control of the chamber,” he said, adding that Manchin, who supports the coal industry, has “views on energy [that] line up with the Republicans."
Republicans are flirting with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as he faces backlash from his own party over his opposition to Build Back Better. GOP senators, most of whom are friendly with Manchin,…
thehill.com
