Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-West Virginia) said on Sunday that he will not vote for the Democrat’s signature voting rights bill and pledged that he would not vote to end the legislative filibuster.
“I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act. Furthermore, I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster,” Manchin wrote in The Charleston Gazette-Mail on Sunday.
Manchin, in his editorial, argued that what he is doing is to “end the division” and “unite this country.”
“For as long as I have the privilege of being your U.S. senator, I will fight to represent the people of West Virginia, to seek bipartisan compromise no matter how difficult and to develop the political bonds that end divisions and help unite the country we love,” Manchin said.
“American democracy is something special, it is bigger than one party, or the tweet-filled partisan attack politics of the moment. It is my sincere hope that all of us, especially those who are privileged to serve, remember our responsibility to do more to unite this country before it is too late,” he added.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden had publicly said that several Democratic senators have been aligning too closely with Republicans, which most observers took to include Manchin.
