Joe Manchin signs pledge not to campaign against his Senate colleagues

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Sen. Joe Manchin just wants everyone to be friends.

The West Virginia Democrat on Tuesday called for his fellow senators to join him in pledging not to campaign against their colleagues, arguing that this would help temper the increasing partisan tension in Washington.

"Someone might be talking to me one day, but then that weekend, they might be in my state, campaigning against me," Manchin, who is facing a tough re-election campaign this year, said. "It won't produce good results."

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He recalled the days of the late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., when senators spent more time in Washington and became what they often call each other on the floor: friends.

With that in mind, Manchin signed his "Pledge to Return to Era of Bipartisan Cooperation and Agreement."

Here's what it reads:

In order to restore civility to the United Senate and our political discourse we must pledge to return to an era of bipartisan cooperation and agreement. I, Joe Manchin, pledge to the people of West Virginia and to the American people that I will: 1) Not campaign against a sitting colleague; 2) Not directly fundraise against them; 3) Not distribute any direct mail against them; 4) Not appear or endorse any advertisements directed at them; 5) Not use or endorse social media campaigns that attack them.

Whether others actually sign on to the pledge remains to be seen. Manchin referenced his South Dakota colleague, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, saying that the two had learned how to work together while they were governors of their respective states.

Rounds' office did not immediately return a request for comment.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP's campaign committee, mocked the idea. The committee noted that Manchin served as the chairman of the Democratic Governors' Association, which raises money to target Republicans, and that Manchin's political action committee, Country Roads PAC, donated to the 2014 campaign of Alison Lundergan Grimes, who ran against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

"Joe Manchin is the most transparently hypocritical politician in Washington, D.C.," NRSC spokesman Bob Salera said. "Manchin has no problem campaigning against incumbents, unless it's his own name on the ballot."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not immediately return a request for comment on Manchin's pledge.

Manchin, who was elected to the seat once held by Byrd, has served in the Senate since 2010. He's considered the most conservative Democrat in the upper chamber. Facing a tossup of a midterm race in West Virginia — which Donald Trump won in 2016, with 67.9% of the vote — Manchin has often sided with Republicans on a number of issues (according to FiveThirtyEight, Manchin has voted with the Trump position 58.1% of the time).

Just a couple weeks ago, Manchin went against his fellow Democrats and voted to keep the federal government open. Much of the Democratic caucus refused to vote for funding without a deal to protect undocumented immigrants in place.

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