Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said that he wouldn’t rule out running for the presidency as a third-party candidate in 2024. He praised the importance of the “moderate center” over extremes to the left and the right, following the passage of the debt ceiling bill by both chambers of Congress, which avoided a U.S. bankruptcy.

Shannon Bream, host of “Fox News Sunday,” grilled Manchin about a report from The New York Times that claimed that the bipartisan “No Labels” group is considering a third party presidential run in the year 2024. This alarms Democrats and places Manchin at the “top of the list” of potential candidates.

According to the report, Manchin could lose support for President Biden that is “crucial” to his reelection.

Bream asked Manchin, on “Fox News Sunday,” if a third party run was still possible.

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No Labels is pushing the middle-class very hard. Manchin’s answer, which avoided the question, was “Make commonsense decisions.” “We are basically expected to do our jobs by people.” In our great nation, we should not place the political party before the policy. We’ve seen this happen. “There’s more noise, more extremism from the extreme left and far right.”

It’s what I have always believed. “I believe that you make your decisions mainly in the center,” he said. “You listen both to the left and right. Make sure you don’t leave anyone behind. You listen to their concerns, persuasions and different opinions. “But when the time comes, you have to use common sense.”

He then argued for an evaluation of risk management of the financial situation in the United States, citing the recent collapse Silicon Valley Bank.

Bream asked, “But does there exist a risk-management team that is assessing the possibility of a third party run by Sen. Joe Manchin for No Labels? Or any other options?”

“I believe that with a team of risk managers, you should have a Plan B. Manchin stated that if Plan A indicates that we are going to the extremes of both the left and right, but the people do not want to go that far, they prefer to be governed in the middle.

Bream asked, “And you’re stating that it could possibly include Joe Manchin?”

“I don’t say who I’m going to include or exclude.” Manchin replied, “I’m telling you to have a Plan B ready.” “Because it’s going be necessary for this country’s superpower status to be maintained, for people to have confidence that the U.S. Dollar should remain as the reserve currency, and that the U.S. Defense Department and government should support freedom and democracy.” We can achieve that. “You can’t take it to the extremes.”

“OK, excluding it? Bream was pushed again.

Manchin’s conclusion was “not ruling anything in or out, but not ruling anything in.”

Manchin, who had earlier thanked Senate Republicans, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for ensuring that the Mountain Valley Gas Pipeline was funded as part of the debt ceiling package, credited both centrists from the GOP and Democrat party for preventing a U.S. default.

Manchin stated that both the extremes left and right voted against default. It was Democrats and Republicans who were in the middle. We’re going run the country with that middle group, those centrists. “We can’t let the extremists continue to try to be the major voice, when it will be the majority voting and the moderate-centrists who will make things happen.”