The Democratic Party should not use the filibuster to try to block President-elect Donald Trump's eventual nomination to the Supreme Court from getting a hearing, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has warned, the Washington Examiner reports.
Republicans, who control the Senate, have refused to grant Merrick Garland a hearing since he was nominated by President Barack Obama in March, which already in July, set a record for the longest period of time a Supreme Court nominee has waited for a Senate hearing, NBC News reports.
Manchin said a similar strategy by Democrats would only backfire and exacerbate the erosion in the party's support in rural areas, which was one of the key reasons that Trump won the presidency.
"We have to be careful how we go down this road," Manchin said during a panel discussion at a centrist "No Labels" conference in Washington, the Examiner reported.
"If my Democrat friends just hunker down and say, 'No, no, and hell no'…I can understand that [Republicans] are gong to say, 'Wait a minute, we have a pretty good person here. We need to give him a fair shot.'"
Manchin, a conservative-leaning Democrat, was appointed by the party to a leadership role following the election debacle in order to promote party members in states in which Trump has made inroads.
On the leadership team, Manchin has said his goal is to bring the party "back to the middle," because "we have big change in our country right now, and with every big change, comes opportunity."
Manchin is reportedly under consideration for Energy secretary in the Trump administration.
WSAZ News Channel 3 in Huntington, West Virginia reported that Manchin released a statement after meeting Trump, saying, "I have always believed that public officials must put their state and country first and set aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people they serve.
"It is why I truly look forward to continuing the conversation with President-elect Trump later this week on how we can work together to make that happen."
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