Joe Manchin Rules Out Supporting Socialist Candidates

Joe Manchin needed only two words to answer whether he would ever support a socialist candidate.

“No way.”

The former West Virginia Democratic senator blasted his party’s far-left flank Sunday, warning that socialist candidates want to dismantle core American institutions, weaken law enforcement, and destroy the country’s energy strength.

“My God, no,” Manchin said when CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked whether he could support a self-described socialist in the midterm elections.

“Even if they have some good ideas?” Brennan pressed.

“I support the good ideas,” Manchin replied. “But how could you support some of the crazy stuff they’re for?”

Manchin then pointed to the movement’s broader platform, arguing that its ambitions extend far beyond higher taxes or expanded government programs.

“Have you seen their platform?” he 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?”

The former senator argued that Democrats should be able to defend police, border security and the military without bowing to activists who treat those positions as unacceptable.

“We want a crime-free area,” Manchin said. “We have to have police for that. Yeah. We want a strong defense, we want a strong border.”

Manchin also warned that embracing socialist demands could devastate American energy production at a time when the United States occupies an increasingly important position in global markets.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Manchin appeared alongside his daughter, Heather Manchin, who offered her own indictment of Democratic leaders unwilling to draw a firm line against far-left candidates.

“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.”

Watch the clip below:

CBS News’s Margaret Brennan defends socialism prompting Joe Manchin to respond: “Are you crazy?”

Brennan: “Could you ever support a self-described socialist candidate?”

Manchin: “No. No way. My God, no.”

Brennan: “Even if they have some good ideas?”

Manchin: “I support the… pic.twitter.com/0SuWIsyrfI

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 2, 2026