Sen. Manchin not ruling out 2024 third-party presidential run

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said on Monday that he is not ruling out a third-party presidential run in 2024 as the "moderate middle" candidate who could help bring both sides together.

Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream asked Manchin about his plans after reporting that the bipartisan group "No Labels" wants to run a third-party candidate in 2024 and Manchin is at the top of their wish list.

"Is a third-party run still in the realm of possibility?" Bream asked Manchin.

"No Labels has been moving and pushing very hard the centrist middle. Making commonsense decisions," Manchin said, sidestepping the question. "People that basically expect us to do our job. And not put the political party ahead of the policy in our great country. That’s what we’ve seen happening. And there’s more noise and more extremism coming from the far left and the far right."

When pressed about whether he would be in or out as a "Plan B" candidate, Manchin said, "I’m not saying who it’s going to include or exclude. I’m saying you better have Plan B ready."

"Because that’s what it’s going to take for this country to remain the superpower of the world, to give confidence to people around the world that the reserve currency should be the U.S. dollar, that support for freedom and democracy should be the U.S. government and the U.S. Defense Department. We can do that. You can’t do it from the extremes," he said.