Joe Manchin cuts ad for Republican congressman facing primary

Mr Manchin is one of the most popular politicians in West Virginia

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is crossing party lines to back a Republican congressman who is facing a primary challenge from a colleague who is supported by former president Donald Trump.

Mr Manchin, a former Mountain State governor whose popularity at home has soared as he has single-handedly stymied much of President Joe Biden’s legislative programme, recently cut a campaign ad for GOP Representative David McKinley.

Mr McKinley is the dean of the West Virginia congressional delegation and has represented the state’s 1st Congressional District since 2011. But the state’s new district map has forced him into an intra-party primary match against Republican Representative Alex Mooney for the state’s newly-drawn 2nd Congressional District seat.

The advertisement, which was released on Friday, shows Mr Manchin looking straight-on into a camera to deliver an attack line against Mr Mooney: “Alex Mooney has proven he’s all about Alex Mooney. But West Virginians know David McKinley is all about us”.

Mr Manchin goes on to accuse Mr Mooney’s “out-of-state supporters” — a reference to Mr Mooney’s previous service in the Maryland state legislature and as chairman of the Maryland GOP — of telling an “outright lie” about Mr McKinley by suggesting he supported Mr Biden’s “Build Back Better” social spending package.

“David McKinley has always opposed reckless spending because it doesn’t make sense for West Virginia,” he said.