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Former West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin refused to offer support for any self-described socialist candidates ahead of the midterm elections on Sunday’s broadcast of CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“No way,” Manchin said when asked if he would ever support a socialist. “My God, no.”
“Even if they have some good ideas?” host Margaret Brennan pressed.
“I support the good ideas,” he said. “But how could you support some of the crazy stuff they’re for?”
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“Have you seen their platform?” Manchin asked. “They’re for dismantling everything that we know, whether it be the structure of government, Congress itself, or the Senate they want to get rid of, and then they start talking about all the crazy things, no police, no this, no this, no that. Are you crazy?”
“We want a crime-free area,” he continued. “We have to have police for that. Yeah. We want a strong defense, we want a strong border.”
“But if Democrats can’t say that, and they start lining up with the socialist demands of what you are to be a socialist, energy will be gone,” Manchin added. “There’ll be no energy, OK? We have right now a tremendous amount of energy we’re producing, and the world depends more on us than ever before.”
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Manchin’s daughter, Heather Manchin, who appeared on the show with him, expressed concern that the Democratic Party leadership refuses to tell far-left candidates and socialists “No.”
“Control has now completely outweighed character,” she said. “If you’re more interested in control, and that’s all that matters, your vote count, versus the character of the person and the platform they’re running on, I think we’re living with the consequences of that.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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Manchin and his daughter’s comments came after several openly socialist candidates ran and won Democratic primary elections throughout the country. Some DSA-backed politicians such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier have begun to rise in prominence and popularity within the Democratic Party.
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A July Fox News poll found that more Democrats had a favorable opinion of socialism (52%) compared to capitalism (41%). Among registered voters, 30% have a favorable view of socialism, an increase from last year’s figure of 27%.
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