Sen. Joe Manchin to announce on Tuesday if he's running for governor of West Virginia

On Monday night, aides to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) were working down to the wire, preparing two very different drafts for a speech he plans on making Tuesday morning.

Manchin intends to announce whether he will remain in the Senate, or run for governor in West Virginia, CBS News reports. Manchin, who served two terms as governor before joining the Senate in 2010, won re-election last year. He's been highly critical of the state's current governor, Republican Jim Justice, who was elected as a Democrat but changed parties two years ago at President Trump's insistence. In 2018, Justice also fired Manchin's wife, Gayle, from her position with the state's Department of Education and the Arts.

On Face the Nation last month, Manchin said he's received "a lot of inquiries" from people in West Virginia who "want me to come back home." He is one of the Senate's more conservative Democrats, and joined Republicans in voting for Trump's Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up