West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice claims he’s talked to Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin about him switching parties.

President Donald Trump needs Manchin’s vote in the Senate, Justice said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”

“Joe and I had discussions along those lines,” Justice, a Republican, said.

“I wish Joe was a Republican to tell you the truth,” he said of the West Virginia senator.

“But to just tell it like it is, Joe’s got to do his thing and I’ve surely got to do mine and the president has got to do his. We need Joe’s vote.

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“And to be perfectly honest, you know, this nation needs to get behind our president in a great way every day.”

Manchin has regularly displayed conservative talking points and his conservative flare continues to increase as he gets closer to a reelection bid in November.

Manchin went on CNN’s “New Day” in January and said the country needed Trump’s border wall.

He returned on CNN to rebuke House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s immigration rhetoric a few days later.

He also appeared on “Fox & Friends” in January and bashed Democrats for being disrespectful during Trump’s State of the Union address.

“That’s the way I was raised in West Virginia. We have respect. There is civility still yet.

“There should be civility in this place,” he said in January.

“That’s disrespectful. Last night was disrespectful.”

Justice, formerly a Democrat, made the switch to the Republican Party after Trump took the state by more than 40 points in 2016.

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Justice’s switch was largely ignored by the mainstream media networks.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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