Joe Manchin says he doesn’t intend to leave Democratic party for now

The centrist Democratic senator Joe Manchin does not intend to change his party affiliation - at least for now, he said Sunday.

Manchin's remarks on CBS's Face the Nation came after fellow centrist senator Kyrsten Sinema sent shock waves through Congress by announcing that she was leaving the Democratic party and listing herself as an independent.

"I'll let you know later what I decide to do, but right now, I have no intentions of changing anything," Manchin told host Margaret Brennan, who had asked the West Virginian if there was any political advantage to becoming an independent like Sinema.

Sinema declared her defection right after Democratic Georgia incumbent Raphael Warnock staved off a challenge for his seat on 6 December, a result that left the party thinking it had a clear one-seat majority in the Senate.

Like Sinema, Manchin has at times torpedoed the ambitions of the Joe Biden White House and other progressives, occasionally voting against his party's interests in a chamber that has been split 50-50 during the last two years, with Vice-President Kamala Harris breaking ties in the Democrats' favor. Notably, in July, the millionaire coal-trading company founder killed off sweeping climate change legislation staunchly opposed by Republicans before later helping push through a less ambitious bill.

Manchin more recently tried to force through legislation that would weaken environmental protections while fast-tracking energy projects, but his effort to salvage his so-called "dirty deal" - which had failed once earlier - was unsuccessful.

Manchin spent some of his appearance on Brennan's show Sunday criticizing the concept of congressional partisanship.

"I really don't much validity in the identity of being a Republican or Democrat," Manchin said. "I think we're all Americans."

But then he took aim at Republicans who didn't support his attempt to save his dirty deal by attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual appropriations bill.

"Only seven Republicans voted for something that all 50 had supported before," Manchin said to Brennan on Sunday. "So you tell me if it's about policy or is it about politics."

The impact of Sinema's abandonment of the Democratic party remains to be seen. She has said she doesn't intend to caucus with Republicans, which could frustrate their hopes of overcoming the majority which Democrats hold with the cooperation of other independents like Bernie Sanders and Angus King.

Sinema, of Arizona, and Manchin are up for re-election in 2024, when the next presidential race is set to be held. Manchin's state is conservative, having sided with the Republican candidate in the last four presidential elections.