Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., would probably prefer if everyone forgot he had endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but his constituents aren’t about to let it go.
The senator, who is running for re-election this fall against GOP challenger Patrick Morrisey, participated in a campaign event in Morgantown, W.Va., on July 27, wherein he was asked to defend his 2016 endorsement.
“Why did you turn against the coal [miners]?” asked one attendee, referring to the senator’s support for the former secretary of state.
“The Hillary thing? Okay,” Manchin responded. “Just because you associate with somebody, try to be friendly to someone, doesn’t mean someone changes who you are as a person. You’re assuming — what you should look at is the bills I pass, and all the work I have done. If that changed me, then, yeah, that association changed me.”
A bit confusing, but okay. Here’s where the senator’s response takes an especially odd turn:
Of course, Manchin wasn’t elected governor of West Virginia until 2005, long after Clinton had already vacated the White House. Prior to serving as governor, Manchin acted as secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005, which, again, was all after the Clinton White House years were over.
The only overlap between the senator’s career in public office and the Clinton presidency is that Manchin served in the West Virginia State Senate from 1986 to 1996. Manchin ran as a candidate for governor in 1996 and lost. Maybe that’s what he’s talking about?
Manchin continued, addressing directly the thing that made his 2016 endorsement such a nightmare for his office, “I’ve known Hillary for a long time. She was running, she first announced, and I thought, ‘Fine. She knows West Virginia.’ Then she says the horrible thing that she said, that ‘we’re going to shut mines down.’”
He added that he “called [her] that night” to straighten her out, educating her on the situation of many West Virginians. He then pivoted into explaining how he always has the state’s best interests at heart. Et cetera, et cetera.
On March 13, 2016, Hillary Clinton was asked during a CNN town hall event why poor white and working class people should vote for her.
“Look, we have serious economic problems in many parts of our country. And Roland is absolutely right,” she responded. “So for example, I’m the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country.”
She added with a big grin, “Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right?”
Clinton complained later that she was taken “totally out of context.”
The senator’s office did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
