Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., was a possible candidate for becoming the next Veteran Affairs secretary earlier this spring after physician Ronny Jackson withdrew his name from consideration, a new report claims.
Senior White House officials claim that they discussed the position to asses Manchin’s interest in the position in order to potentially open his seat for a GOP win in the red state during the 2018 midterms, the Washington Post reports.
Manchin, who is up for reelection in the 2018 midterms, claimed, however, that he interpreted that the talks with the White House as being focused on “finding the right person who could fill [the position] with the right qualifications,” and were not about him specifically.
White House staffers, on the other hand, said the topic of Manchin leading the agency was broached in office conversations, and that they were under the impression he was open to the idea.
Manchin backed out once a poll was released indicating he had a good chance of being reelected and had been told that leading the agency was challenging.
No formal offer was made from the White House and Trump later announced that acting VA chief Robert Wilkie would be nominated to fill the position.
Manchin is set to go up against West Virginia’s Republican attorney general Patrick Morrisey in November.
