Sen. Manchin reacts to Democrats vowing to ‘pack the court’: 'I want to work in a bipartisan way'
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin weighs in on the political impact of the Supreme Court vacancy on ‘Fox & Friends.’
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Monday called out Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for sharing the narrative that progressive policy ideas are the reason congressional Democrats failed to meet expectations in the 2020 election.
Omar is one of four progressive Democratic congresswomen who refer to themselves as "The Squad" and who have been pushing back against that narrative, which has created tension among members of the Democratic Caucus since Election Day.
"Stop worrying about progressives, this might be the reason we don’t win the Senate races in Georgia. Good grief," Omar tweeted Monday night in reference to Georgia's ongoing neck-and-neck Senate races between Republican incumbent David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, as well as Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock and Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler.
Her tweet came in response to a video clip of Manchin, who has held his seat for a decade, who appeared Monday on Fox News' "Special Report" to discuss Senate runoffs and the progressive agenda.
DEM CAUCUS ERUPTS AS MEMBERS SAY PARTY'S LEFTWARD DRIFT HURT MODERATES IN ELECTION
"There's a lot of people that are concerned. There's a lot of fear tactics...being used right now," Manchin said.
He brought up Georgia's runoff races and noted that if the state's two Democratic Senate candidates end up winning their respective races, and Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina win reelection, the Senate would be evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
If the Senate is evenly split, one Democrat's decision to vote against his party could stop a bill from being passed, Manchin said, bringing up examples of progressive calls to pack the Supreme Court, end the filibuster, defund the police and pass "Medicare-for-all."
ALL EYES ON CRUCIAL GEORGIA SENATE RACES, WITH POWER IN DC AT STAKE
"Let me be clear: I will not vote to pack the courts & I will not vote to end the filibuster," Manchin wrote in a tweet sharing the clip. "The U.S. Senate is the most deliberative body in the world. It was made so that we work together in a bipartisan way. If you get rid of the filibuster, there's no reason to have a Senate."
"Squad" member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has also pushed back against the narrative that progressive Democrats and policy proposals are to blame for Democrats' performance in the 2020 election.
In a nearly hourlong interview published by the New York Times Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez rejected the notion expressed by some Democratic members of Congress during a recent caucus call suggesting progressive policy ideas like "defund the police" and the Green New Deal cost moderates their seats.
AOC PUSHES BACK FOR BLAMING PROGRESSIVES FOR DEMOCRATIC HOUSE LOSSES
AOC, perhaps the most well-known and influential member of the left-wing flank of House Democrats, said some Democrats left themselves vulnerable to Republican messaging by not “running a campaign on all cylinders,” essentially neglecting to go door-knocking or to shell out enough money for Facebook advertisements, instead relying solely on TV and mail to reach potential voters.
“Our party isn’t even online, not in a real way that exhibits competence. And so, yeah, they were vulnerable to these messages, because they weren’t even on the mediums where these messages were most potent. Sure, you can point to the message, but they were also sitting ducks. They were sitting ducks,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Times.
More from Politics
