Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. would not commit Sunday to whether he is planning a race to seek his former job as governor of West Virginia, or whether he still identifies as a Democrat.
"I identify as an American," Manchin told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures," when she pressed him on his political future or whether he still identifies with the party affiliation he's held throughout his political career.
"I'm an American through and through," Manchin added.
And when Bartiromo pushed him on whether he will run for governor, Manchin told her he will "do whatever I can to help my country come together and my state come together."
Manchin was governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and has served in the U.S. Senate since 2010. Current West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a former Democrat who has been in office since 2017, famously switched party affiliations shortly after his election and announced during a rally with then-President Donald Trump he was going to be a Republican.
Justice, meanwhile, is still teasing a decision on whether he plans to challenge Manchin, but some reports say he will announce by the end of this month.
Manchin has ruled out running for president in 2024 but has not yet announced a decision on running for reelection to the Senate.
In other matters Sunday, Manchin discussed calls to revoke China's most favored nation status, noting China and Russia do not have the United States' best interest at heart.
"It started way back when we let China come into the World Trade Organization, and it's expanded," Manchin said. "A lot of our manufacturers went over there to get a better return on investment. Now we must make sure we rebuild America, and we've got to do it here. And basically, the incentives that we're putting in the Inflation Reduction Act were intended totally to give us all the energy that we need right here and use the processes of what we do in America to make sure that we're energy independent and we're secure in remaining the superpower of the world.
"That can't be done by depending on foreign supply chains to produce your energy," Manchin added.
But a great deal depends on U.S. energy independence, Manchin, said, adding the Inflation Reduction Act was sold as being about the environment when it is also an energy security bill.
"We're not going to be expanding all of the new technology for renewables as some people would wish unless we have the horsepower to run our country, and we're not going to take something away or remove something until we have something that can replace it to do the same job," Manchin said.
The senator also discussed the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling, and said he plans to vote for a debt ceiling because "we have to pay our bills."
"I hope my Republican friends will join us," he said. "We're all in this together.
"You don't have to scare the bejesus out of people. The first thing they go to is cutting Social Security and Medicare. That's not going to happen. But you can review all the spending that's gone on in discretionary which means we have to make decisions on, and non-discretionary, basically things that you don't negotiate on because it's mandatory spending."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.