Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is embarking on a new initiative: a project called the Independent Leadership Council.
The council—which the 78-year-old former senator is running with his daughter, Heather Manchin—will recruit and support independent candidates who are launching congressional bids. The former Senator launched the initiative at an event on Thursday, with several candidates in attendance, including California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who previously identified as a Republican but is now running a reelection campaign as an independent.
“We’re not trying to start another party,” Manchin told CNN in an interview that was published on Friday. “We’re trying to get a person who can be committed to—and totally committed to—being an independent with an independent voice. They can vote with Democrats and Republicans when they’re right and speak out against them when they’re wrong.”
The Manchins told CNN that if the council decides to support candidates, it will help them with campaigning, fundraising, and on-the-ground organizing. The Manchins were optimistic that, if their support can help a candidate win in the November midterms, then they might be able to have an impact on the 2028 presidential race.
“Our hope is that this is kind of our pilot, experiment, trying to prove it can be done,” Heather Manchin told CNN.
The council presents itself on its website as “an opportunity to fix politics.”
“America was founded on the belief that freedom and competition make us stronger. Somewhere along the way, our politics lost sight of those principles,” the website reads. “Decades of partisanship carved a divide most Americans never wanted. Instead of choosing sides, we’re changing the game by charting a new path that gives leaders the freedom to serve people, not parties.”
Manchin served in the Senate for more than a decade. For most of his political career, he was a centrist member of the Democratic Party. But he dropped that affiliation in 2024, shortly before the end of his time in the upper chamber, and re-registered as an independent. Even before he left the party, he frequently broke from his Democratic colleagues in his votes on various issues, including on climate change and tax hikes on the wealthy. He repeatedly criticized the Democratic Party, arguing that there wasn’t space for more conservative Democrats like him.
“Since becoming a United States senator in 2010, I have seen both the Democrat and Republican parties leave West Virginia and our country behind for partisan extremism while jeopardizing our democracy,” he said in a statement when he announced that he was switching his political affiliation. “Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground. To stay true to myself and remain committed to put country before party, I have decided to register as an independent with no party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s sensible majority.”
Manchin’s renewed pushback against partisan politics now comes at a time when majorities of American adults “have an unfavorable view” of the Republican Party and Democratic Party, according to a Gallup poll released in May. And a record-high 45% of Americans identified as independents last year, Gallup polling released in January found.
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