Joe Manchin to boost Republicans with donations – Washington Examiner

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), the Democrat-turned-independent, is ready to put his money where his party affiliation is.

The retiring West Virginia senator will begin breaking out his checkbook for more centrist candidates, including Republicans, through his Country Roads PAC.

The most immediate beneficiaries of Manchin’s latest endeavor will include $5,000 to Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Jared Golden (D-ME).

“Bottom line: all three always put country over party,” Manchin wrote in a CNN op-ed published Tuesday. “They don’t care if it’s a Democratic or Republican idea; they care if it’s a solution for America.”

Others could later include Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) and New York Democratic congressional candidate and ex-CNN host John Avlon if the two men clinch their primaries Tuesday night, according to Jon Kott, a former Manchin staffer now at the PR firm Capitol Counsel who will run the newly configured multicandidate Country Roads PAC.

Known for working across party lines and his distaste for a “broken” two-party system, Manchin endorsed centrist GOP Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) when he was a Democrat. His Country Roads PAC gave $10,000 to Murkowski in 2022 during her reelection fight.

“My financial donations will not level the playing field or fix our broken system,” Manchin wrote in his op-ed. “But I believe they send an important message to voters, donors and companies that we all can and should do our part to change the system.”

Manchin said he would prop up those “who are committed to working across the aisle to get stuff done, such as protecting the filibuster in the Senate, opposing efforts to undermine our democracy, publicly breaking with the party establishment, putting country before party and doing the right thing for America.”

The 76-year-old is not seeking reelection but fueled speculation of a third-party run for other offices in ruby-red West Virginia when he left the Democratic Party in May to become an independent. Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, still caucuses with Democrats.

He has been adamant that he has “no intentions of running for political office” and that the party switch came ahead of plans to get more involved in his daughter’s nonprofit centrist political group, Americans Together.

“You never close any doors,” Manchin told the Washington Examiner this month. “I understand that too. I’ve been around for a long time, and you never say never because you never know, especially in the toxic political world that we live in.”

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For someone who will retire from Congress in January, Manchin has deep campaign coffers that could prop up candidates for years to come without doing any additional fundraising.

Country Roads PAC had nearly $1.2 million cash on hand as of March 31, according to the most recent federal campaign finance records. His personal fundraising totals almost $8.5 million, and it is unclear how Manchin may utilize the funds.