Manchin causes yet another headache for Democrats with 2024 Senate retirement

Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) announcement that he will not seek reelection in 2024 is creating a second major headache for Senate Democrats, who are already struggling with the upcoming 2022 midterms where they will need to defend several competitive seats. Manchin’s retirement would open up another seat in a deeply red state that Democrats could potentially struggle to fill. This presents a major challenge for Democrats as they will need to find a strong candidate and develop a winning strategy in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in decades. Furthermore, Manchin’s exit would be yet another loss for the Democratic caucus, which already has several retiring senators, including Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Democrats will need to invest significant resources in order to fill these vacancies in order to maintain their slim majority in the Senate.