Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) (above) would not say whether he will run for re-election in 2026, nor would he rule out running for president as a Republican, in his Sunday appearance with Chuck Todd on NBC News’ Meet the Press. His non-answers are as good as a “maybe” to the Capitol Hill punditocracy, which began to speculate that he would switch parties and run against ex-President Trump (and probably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis) for the 2024 GOP nomination for president.

“I haven’t made a decision on what I’m going to do in 2024,” he said, though he did rule out a run for governor of West Virginia. He’s been there already, Manchin reminded Todd. Manchin did say he would try to do “best what I can do for my country … and my state.”

Next up as a guest on Meet the Press was Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), the moderate who describes herself as “pro-life” yet believes her party is self-inflicting wounds with its hardline anti-abortion position. Mace said Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate must get over their wide gaps on all sort of issues in order to move legislation forward, and used the forum to compliment the West Virginia Democrat’s centrism.

“I sometimes joke [Manchin] is the most popular Republican in the Senate,” Mace told Todd.

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