Manchin: Collins should leave GOP, become an independent

Former Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) suggested this week that Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) should leave the Republican Party to become an independent.

Manchin, who made the switch from the Democratic Party to become an independent in 2024, has repeatedly pushed for more lawmakers to break away from the two-party system.

The former senator told Semafor after joining the Maine incumbent on the campaign trail this week that Collins “is independent” but that she “has to come to that conclusion” first.

“She’s as independent as any Republican is up there,” Manchin told the outlet. “But the bottom line is, she has to make that decision.”

The Hill has reached out to the Maine senator’s campaign for comment.

Manchin visited a New Balance shoe factory in southwestern Maine for a campaign stop with Collins this week, after endorsing her reelection bid in September.

The senator has built a reputation in Congress as a moderate Republican, breaking with her party on key votes like an April Iran war powers resolution .

She also voted to convict President Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021 and opposed repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

Collins is seeking a sixth term in the Senate in a closely watched reelection race in the Pine Tree State against Democratic nominee Troy Jackson.

Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, rates the race as a “toss up.” A Fox News poll released Thursday showed the two candidates tied at 49 percent. Recent polls from Suffolk University and Marist University have shown Jackson posting moderate leads over the incumbent senator that fall within the surveys’ margins of error.

Manchin also told Semafor that he is working with the Independent Leadership Council , which he co-founded in July, to support candidates running in Montana, Idaho and Nebraska. The group aims to elect more independent leaders to Congress.