JUST IN: Key Democrat Senator Considers Challenging Kamala At Convention

Not all Democrats are circling the wagons around Vice President Kamala Harris’s plans to succeed her boss on the ticket.

News of President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to end his campaign reverberated through the party’s upper echelons into Monday as prominent liberal figures from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced their endorsements of Harris for president. Others, like former President Barack Obama, were noticeably absent, leaving the door open to supporting the idea of a contested party convention next month.

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One senator who is considering his chances in such a scenario is Joe Manchin (I-WV), the former Democrat turned independent who is now reportedly telling advisors he may re-register as a Democrat and pursue the party’s nomination at their Chicago convention. The Western Journal reported that Manchin, who was the first sitting senator to call on Biden to exit the race, is now giving serious consideration to throwing his hat in the ring.

Sources close to Sen Joe Manchin, independent of WV, say he's considering re-registering as a Democrat and throwing his hat into the ring

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 21, 2024

Veteran Capitol Hill reporter Jake Tapper spoke with Sen. Manchin on Sunday where the West Virginia lawmaker reiterated his hope that the Democratic Party find its new nominee through an “open” and transparent nomination process. “I think that we have a lot of talent on the bench, a lot of good people,” Manchin told Tapper “And I’m partial to governors, because a governor can’t afford to be partial. They can’t afford to be partisan strictly because that pothole or that bridge doesn’t have a D or an R on it.”

Asked whom else he might like to see take on former President Donald Trump, Sen. Manchin pointed to several other red-state Democrats who remain popular despite state legislatures working against them. “I’ve got two tremendous governors right next door to me, Andy Beshear in Kentucky and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, who are operating with legislatures either evenly split or completely opposite their party affiliation,” Manchin said. “They haven’t divided their state. They haven’t made you pick a side and demonize the other side.”

Beshear, who endorsed Harris late Sunday night, is reportedly under consideration to serve as her running mate, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Political conventions typically draw the most fervent activists within their Republican and Democratic constituencies, many of whom are more conservative or more liberal, respectively, than the parties’ presidential nominees. That would make it exceedingly hard for Sen. Manchin, who is loathed by the far left, to mount a serious challenge to Harris. Still, his role as a spoiler may force Democrats to reckon with the allegation that they are disregarding the will of millions of Democratic primary voters who voted for Biden and instead will coronate Harris. A lack of contest would fly in the face of a “blitz primary” previously floated by top Democrats, offering Democrats the chance to lean on celebrities like Taylor Swift to draw attention to their ticket.

President Trump on Sunday unleashed a barrage of attacks on Democrats for keeping news of Biden’s health ailments hidden from the public and promising to take the fight to Harris. “The Democrats pick a candidate, Crooked Joe Biden, he loses the Debate badly, then panics, and makes mistake after mistake, is told he can’t win, and decide they will pick another candidate, probably Harris. They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries — A First! These people are the real THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!” he wrote early Monday morning.

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