Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., announced that he left the Democratic party and registered as an independent.That gives him until August 1 to declare his candidacy for a statewide race such as governor, if he decides to run. 

SAN recently spoke with Sen. Manchin about a local news report that said Republicans in West Virginia are encouraging him to run for governor. He said he fully supports the Democratic nominee Steve Williams, but he added,  “Well, anything can happen.” 

So we followed up with Manchin now that he changed his registration and asked him – is this that anything? 

Here’s a transcript of the conversation that is lightly edited for clarity. 

Manchin:  No, no, no, I’m supporting Steve Williams. I think he’s a good man – he’s shown that he’s able to do the job, he works hard, he’s made a lot of changes in Huntington. I hope the voters of West Virginia just look at the quality of the human being that he is. With that being said, you never let any type of, if you think venue that you could, something could happen, we don’t know, in a toxic political world that we live in, anything can happen. So I’ve been wanting to do this for an awful long time. I’ve always been independent, I think people know that. Now just officially making a change to no party affiliation is just finally doing that as I transition into my private life, which will be in January. It shows that I just didn’t wait until I got out of here and then made a change. I want to make a change now and continue in the last six months trying to bring people together. That’s what it’s about.

Ray:  What’s the most important thing you can do as an independent that you kind of do as a Democrat?

Manchin:  As an independent you can be an honest broker with both sides. The brand is so toxic in Washington and all over America, you’re either a D or an R. If you’re a D, you’re supposed to hate Rs. If you’re an R, you’re supposed to hate Ds. I don’t hate anybody. I work with both sides. But when you still have an identification of one brand or another an R or a D, they look at you through rose colored glasses, if you will. Oh yeah, you’re talking a good game, but do you really mean it? For me, they know I’m serious about independency, basically doing what’s right for the country, putting the country before party. That’s what we got to get back to. Younger generations got to step up now and protect who we are. The rule of law is being attacked. The qualifications and the sincerity of every agency – if you don’t like it because it’s not in your political wheelhouse, they go after and attack you. We saw yesterday with Dr. Fauci, things of this sort. It has come to an end. People have to say enough’s enough.