President Joe Biden can woo Nikki Haley voters via centrist policies and executive action at the southern border, conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin argues.
Haley dropped out of the GOP primary race against Donald Trump after Super Tuesday results handed most of the delegates to her rival—though her more centrist campaign added Vermont to her victory in D.C. and took sizable chunks of the vote in other states.
Manchin, who has frequently criticized Biden’s administration for being too left-leaning, said the president can win over Haley’s primary voters by coming “back to the middle” before a general election against Trump in November.
Asked by CNN’s John King Tuesday evening whether Biden should target Haley voters, Manchin replied: “Well, he definitely should go for Nikki Haley voters, and that’s going to be the centrist voters.
“They were center-left, center-right Democrats who crossed over to vote for her. That’s what I have said. The extremes are where they are.
“He’s going to have to come back to the middle to get the people that basically were voting for Nikki and didn’t want to go toward Donald.”
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin talks to John King about the appeal of moderate candidates and what he wants to hear from Pres. Biden during tomorrow’s State of the Union address. pic.twitter.com/eHJXYNiBBf
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 7, 2024
The West Virginia senator mentioned the border crisis, in particular, as an issue on which Biden could win over conservatives.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Biden campaign for comment.
Senate Republicans, encouraged by Trump, blocked a bipartisan border security and foreign aid bill in February. Supporters of the bill insisted it was a comprehensive border proposal and included many Republican priorities. However, opponents argued it did not go far enough on border security measures.
“Joe Biden should give a mea culpa there and just say, ‘Listen, I made a mistake. Through the sake of humanity, I was trying to help people that have been displaced around the world after the pandemic. I never thought they’d take advantage and come in the droves they’ve come in, and we should have shut it down sooner,'” Manchin said.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
The CNN correspondent asked whether Biden should take executive action on the border. Manchin replied: “Absolutely. Take executive action on the border. Shut that border down. Secure that border.
“We shouldn’t be releasing anybody. We don’t know who they are. It’s dangerous. We’ve got to stop that. John, we can never ever shut our doors down to legal immigration. But we have an absolute right and responsibility to shut the border down to illegal immigration. That’s what has to be done.”
Head-to-head polls are divided over whether Biden or Trump will be in the White House next year. At the time of publication, RealClearPolitics’ poll aggregator gave Trump a 2.2-point lead over Biden.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.