Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, officially announced that he will not run for president in 2024. Nor will he endorse or engage in politics for any specific campaign.
With statements made Friday at the University of West Virginia, the moderate senator denied once and for all the theories according to which he could mount his own campaign for this year's presidential elections.
"I will not run as a third-party candidate. I will not run in a presidential race," the Democratic senator said in a speech at West Virginia University in Morgantown. "I will participate to ensure that we get a president who has the knowledge, the passion and the ability to unite this country," he added.
Speculation that Manchin would participate in the race for the White House grew after learning that he would not run for re-election in the Senate. Democrats feared that as a third-party candidate, Manchin could steal votes from Joe Biden, especially among moderate sectors and those most critical of the current president.
