When Joe Manchin recently called in to a West Virginia radio station, the host pressed the Democratic senator over his unusual step of wading into a House GOP primary in his home state.

Manchin had cut a TV ad for Rep. David McKinley, who, due to redistricting after the 2020 census, is being forced to fight it out for the GOP nomination in the 2nd Congressional District with a House Republican colleague, Rep. Alex Mooney. Winning the May 10 Republican primary is tantamount to claiming the seat in the deep-red state where former President Donald Trump had his second-best showing in the nation in 2020.