Democrat Joe Manchin Just Crossed The Aisle, You Ok With It?

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has just done something very peculiar. The moderate Democratic Senator, who sometimes goes against his party’s wishes, decided to endorse Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in her bid for reelection in 2020.

The Democrats and the greater left-wing have made it very clear that they are going to band together to attempt to oust the Republican Senator from Maine, almost entirely due to the fact that she was seen as a pivotal “swing vote” in the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

With this is mind, knowing Manchin’s aisle-crossing tendencies, the raitonale behind the move is still somewhat puzzling.

Cross-party endorsement is rare, but the two voted together to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court https://t.co/H600Qi3hJW

— Roll Call (@rollcall) April 11, 2019

Interesting, indeed, as Sen. Collins hasn’t returned the favor in the past for Sen. Manchin…

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (WV) endorses Republican Senator Susan Collins (ME) for re-election.

Note: She did not support him in his 2018 re-election bid.

This race is a big one for Democrats if they want a shot at the majority.https://t.co/khF1lxFZQg

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 11, 2019

Cross-aisle endorsements are indeed rare, especially in today’s hyper-partisan times, which makes for an interesting study into what exactly is happening here. Politico covered Sen. Manchin’s endorsement in greater detail:

“Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin endorsed GOP Sen. Susan Collins for reelection on Thursday, in a rare rebuff of partisan politics in an increasingly polarized Senate.

. . .

‘I would go up and campaign for Susan Collins. If she wanted me to, I would campaign for Susan Collins. For America to lose somebody like Susan Collins would be an absolute shame. I feel that strongly about her,’ Manchin said on Thursday.

He admitted his comments will not please Democrats eager to defeat Collins.

‘You think my party will be happy? No,’ Manchin said in an interview with C-SPAN’s ‘Newsmakers’ program that will air beginning on Friday night.”

Sen. Manchin is absolutely right about angering his party. However, he is no stranger to more than occasionally bucking the Democrat-norm and voting with President Trump and Republicans, as detailed over at ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight.com.

According to Five Thirty Eight’s database, Sen. Manchin has voted in-line with the President and GOP a whopping 60.7% of the time. This includes almost all of Trump’s cabinet appointments and judicial nominations, as well as key anti-abortion legislation.

Is Joe Manchin in danger of losing his spot in the Senate, due to his controversial GOP-friendly acts? Not likely, as West Virginia voters tend to be moderate overall and have voted for the Republican candidate in each of the last five Presidential elections.

Perhaps Senators Manchin and Collins were brought inseparably closer during the vile attacks both endured before, during, and after the extremely contentious Kavanaugh confirmation vote. We should all remember exactly how ridiculous and unhinged the left acted toward good people standing up and doing what was right for the country.