Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he knows what’s in Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s heart when it comes to her plans for coal country.
The senator from West Virginia said he will continue to support her even though comments she made in March about killing miners’ jobs were “horrible.”
Manchin made the comments Monday while participating in a roundtable discussion alongside a two-day tour by Clinton to his and other coal states to tout an economic plan to revitalize Appalachia.
Her plan has generated mixed reactions, and has placed strain on Manchin in defending her.
“If I thought that was in her heart, if I thought she wanted to eliminate one job in West Virginia, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Manchin said while participating in a discussion with miners in Williamson, West Virginia in support of Clinton. “I’m willing to take the flack because I believe in her,” he said. “I know that’s not in her heart.”
On Sunday, he was on stage with former President Bill Clinton in Charleston. The former president was met with jeering from protesters over his wife’s March remarks, where she said she would “put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business” if elected president in November.
“She made a horrible statement,” Manchin said Sunday. “As friends sometimes you misspeak and she misspoke, but then she came back and made an apology. I still believe that she’s the one that can help us transition, help people get new jobs, bring industry there.”
Clinton is pitching a $30 billion program to revitalize the region that has been hemorrhaging thousands of mining jobs by helping it transition to renewable energy development.
She takes her roadshow to Ohio on Tuesday.
