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West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s decision not to run for re-election to the Senate deals a major blow to Democrats defending their narrow majority next year.
Manchin’s exit means Republicans will have a clearer path to winning his Senate seat in a state former President Donald Trump carried by 39 points. Manchin would have been vulnerable even if he had run.
But a race against an incumbent who has defied political gravity before would have been a much tougher fight for the GOP.
Democrats “do not have a viable alternative” in West Virginia, write NBC’s Sahil Kapur and Julie Tsirkin.
Manchin did say in a written and video statement that he does plan on “traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together,” stoking more speculation that he could mount a third-party presidential bid as an independent or as part of the No Labels effort.
A source with direct knowledge of Manchin’s plan told Kapur and Tsirkin that “nothing is off the table” for the West Virginia Democrat.
Meanwhile, another third-party candidate jumped into the race on Thursday. Jill Stein launched another run for president as a Green Party candidate, reprising her failed 2016 run.
In other campaign news …
Dem divide: The White House cheered Tuesday’s election results as a sign of Biden’s strength, but otherDemocrats don’t think the president should be taking credit for the victories, per NBC’s Katherine Doyle, Sahil Kapur and Julie Tsirkin.
Biden on the road: Biden traveled to Illinois on Thursday, where he met United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and stressed his support for unions after the auto workers strike, per NBC’s Megan Lebowitz.
Getting personal: NBC’s Sakshi Venkatraman examines the personal animosity between former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Just kid-ing: DeSantis criticized Ramaswamy’s comments about Haley’s adult daughter using TikTok, saying “kids are out of bounds.” But DeSantis also criticizes Biden’s adult son Hunter “on a weekly basis,” write NBC’s Alec Hernández and Alex Tabet.
Sununu weighs in: New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu has not yet endorsed in the Republican primary, but he did say Thursday that Ramaswamy “would be a poor choice” for president.
Heading abroad: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Thursday that he is planning to travel to Israel, per NBC’s Emma Barnett, Kelly O’Donnell and Shaquille Brewster.
Battle for the House: A liberal donor group known as the Democracy Alliance is focusing on House races in New York and California next year, with plans to spend $10 million in New York alone, per the New York Times.
