Despite rumors to the contrary, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) will not leave his party to become a Republican, his office said on Wednesday morning.
“Senator Manchin is a proud West Virginia Democrat and will remain one,” his spokesman, Jonathan Kott, told TPM in an email.
The rumors began after Democrats took a thumping in 2014 midterm elections on Tuesday and lost the Senate majority. West Virginia’s other Senate seat was won by Republican Shelley Moore Capito by a commanding margin.