Manchin-Biden coal clash highlights Democratic divisions at a perilous moment
Sen. Joe Manchin speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo
By BURGESS EVERETT and CRAIG HOWIE
11/05/2022 10:32 AM EDT
Updated: 11/05/2022 04:29 PM EDT
Joe Manchin clashed Saturday with President Joe Biden over the politics of coal — a poorly timed breach between a pair of Democratic heavyweights just three days before voters head to the polls.
In a statement Saturday morning, the West Virginia senator lambasted Biden’s remarks a day earlier pledging to shut down America’s coal plants as “offensive and disgusting.” That prompted a quick response from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in an attempt to tamp down the conflict.
The rupture between Biden and Manchin, both of whom are up for reelection in two years, is unwelcome news for Democrats’ endangered congressional majorities. The party is likely to lose the House next week and is fighting to keep its 50-50 Senate majority — including competing in a pair of races in coal states. The run-in distracted from Democratic efforts to rally voters — including by Biden and Barack Obama Saturday in Pennsylvania — ahead of Election Day.
Moreover, Manchin’s pugnacious statement is another reminder of the challenge he’d face running for reelection in 2024 as a Democrat. Republicans are eager to take on Manchin, with several potential candidates quietly eyeing bids that could launch soon after Tuesday’s election. And Manchin’s statement made clear that if he runs, it will continue to be well to the right of his own party and president.
After Republicans whacked Biden on Friday for saying that “we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar,” Manchin stepped in on Saturday. He deemed Biden’s comments “not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs.”
“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden,” Manchin said, calling for Biden to apologize to mine workers. “It seems his positions change daily depending on the audience and politics of the day.”
Jean-Pierre replied that Manchin is “a tireless advocate for his state and the hard-working men and women who live there” and praised coal country workers as people who built America and “powered its steel mills and factories, kept its homes and schools and offices warm.”
Manchin declined to comment later Saturday on the White House’s statement.
The schism could bleed into Democrats’ effort to defend the Senate. Biden is set to appear in Philadelphia Saturday with Senate hopeful John Fetterman. Fetterman and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who is running for Senate in Ohio, are vying to represent states with a lineage of coal production. Neither had an immediate comment on Saturday on Biden’s remarks.