Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has not decided whether he will next year run for reelection, make a third-party bid for the presidency, or retire, has raised $1.2 million in the second quarter of 2023.
The Epoch Times obtained the fundraising figures along with other numbers showing that the Manchin campaign has $10.7 million cash on hand and $2.2 million available in Mr. Manchin’s leadership PAC Country Roads, following the PAC bringing in close to $400,000 in the second quarter of this year.
Two candidates, both Republicans, have announced a run for next year’s race for the West Virginia that Mr. Manchin presently holds.
The money that Mr. Manchin raised is more than either of his potential Republican rivals brought in during the same period.
Vying for the Republican nomination are West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), one of the state’s two U.S. representatives.
Mr. Justice said he raised close to $1 million in the two months following the announcement of his candidacy in April.
Mr. Justice, a scion of a coal-mining empire which he inherited and grew, also has a personal bank account he can tap into, with Forbes estimating his net worth in 2021 to be about $440 million—although Forbes once pegged his net worth at $1.7 billion.
Mr. Mooney reported raising $550,000 in the second quarter of 2023.
Mr. Mooney has significant conservative PAC money behind him. On July 12, two of those PACs, the Club for Growth and Protect Freedom PAC, jointly announced that they have raised $13.55 million to get Mr. Mooney elected to the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Manchin said he will make a decision about his political future this coming December.
An East Carolina University (ECU) Center for Survey Research released a poll in late May has Mr. Justice way ahead of Mr. Manchin in the 2024 Senate race, 54 to 32 percent, with 13 percent undecided. In a matchup for the Republican nomination, the poll has Mr. Justice leading 53 percent to 12 percent.
In a race for the Senate seat between Mr. Manchin and Mr. Mooney, the ECU poll has the candidates basically deadlocked, with Mr. Mooney at 41 percent, Mr. Manchin at 40 percent, and 18 percent undecided.
The senator is set to join Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman as keynote speaker for No Labels’s “Common Sense” town hall, which is scheduled for July 17 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The centrist political group has stirred controversy by floating a potential third-party “unity ticket” for the 2024 presidential election.
Democrats have expressed criticism of such a move, saying it would virtually hand the election to former President Donald Trump.
“It is clear that most Americans are exceedingly frustrated by the growing divide in our political parties and toxic political rhetoric from our elected leaders,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement announcing Monday’s event.
“Our political discourse is lacking engaged debates around common sense solutions to solve the pressing issues facing our nation. I am looking forward to modeling this type of conversation with my good friend, Gov. Huntsman, and the No Labels community.”
