NORWAY, Maine — Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin thinks Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, should follow in his footsteps by leaving her party to become an independent.
“She has to come to that conclusion, but she is independent,” Manchin, a former Democrat, told Semafor after joining Collins this week on a tour of a New Balance shoe factory in Maine. “She’s as independent as any Republican is up there. But the bottom line is, she has to make that decision.”
Manchin is running a project to elect more members of Congress outside the major parties.
The Independent Leadership Council, which he co-founded this summer, is focusing on challengers in Montana, Idaho, and Nebraska; the group has not spent money to boost Collins in her difficult reelection battle.
“I’ll be recruiting!” he said.