Republicans are looking forward to 2024 now that official projections reveal the GOP fell short of its goal to re-take the Senate this year.
While the expected “red wave” turned out to be more of a “red ripple” conservatives refuse to be knocked down for long. Republicans are already setting their sights on which vulnerable Democrats to target during the next election cycle in hopes of turning the upper chamber red.
Early reports indicate West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin should expect to find himself within the GOP’s crosshairs in 2024.
Despite the fact Sen. Manchin has sided with Republicans more than any other Democrat lawmaker, strategists are predicting that won’t stop Mitch McConnell from pouring millions of dollars into West Virginia next cycle to flip Manchin’s seat.
West Virginia Attorney General and failed 2018 Senate hopeful Patrick Morrisey has already been named a likely challenger to seek Manchin’s seat.
While speaking to The Hill, Morrisey said Manchin lost significant political capital when he voted in favor of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included major components of President Biden’s agenda.
Manchin stonewalled President Joe Biden’s original Build Back Better plan but ultimately was the deciding vote for the renegotiated Inflation Reduction Act.
“Sen. Manchin deeply disappointed West Virginians and let them down tremendously when he supported the ‘Build Back Broke’ bill last summer. That legislation really hit our state very hard. You can dress up the pig any way you want but most people in West Virginia understand that that bill is going to hurt us,” Morrisey told the outlet.
“He let the air out of his balloon and it’s not going to be so easy to pump it back up,” he said.
Morrisey, who is “evaluating options” about what to do in 2024, said “we’re looking very closely at the Senate race.”
Morrisey and his team estimated they will have at least $12 million to spend on a Senate Republican primary alone.
“I learned a lot from a past experience in a terrible political environment. The environment in 2024 is going to be much, much stronger” for Republicans, he predicted.
Morrisey narrowly lost his bid to unseat Manchin in 2018 by 3 percentage points or about 19,000 votes, which turned out to be closer than what the polls indicated before Election Day.
The Hill also lists Gov. Jim Justice (R) and Rep. Alex Mooney (R) as other potential challengers to Manchin.
However, on Tuesday Rep. Alex Mooney, R, W.Va., announced that he will run for Senate in 2024 in a bid to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin.
Mooney announced his challenge in a radio interview on MetroNews Talkline on Tuesday morning.
This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for updates.
There should be a honest counting of votes. I”ll never believe Katie Hobbs won!!!
me either!!! Somebody should call her on the steal!
Maricopa is full of corruption. No way Lake will come out on top.
Joe,
Play your cards right. Avoid a Republican challenger in ’24. Schumer lied to you. Time for payback. If Herschel Walker wins, I personally invite you to change Parties and become a Republican so Republicans will control the Senate. You will get whatever chairmanship of a committee that you want. Think about it.