Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin criticized what he sees as his former party's embrace of the progressive left, warning that Democratic socialists are gaining ground while longtime Democrats largely remain silent.
Manchin left the Democratic Party after frequently breaking with fellow Democrats while serving in Congress. The longtime moderate registered as an independent in May 2024.
In a statement announcing his departure, Manchin criticized extremism on both the left and right, saying he had "seen both the Democrat and Republican parties leave West Virginia and our country behind for partisan extremism while jeopardizing our democracy."
Manchin also argued that neither party was willing to "find common ground" or "put country before party."
During his conversation with Hannity, Manchin expressed disbelief that many Democrats appear unwilling to challenge the Democratic Socialists of America's (DSA) growing influence within the party.
"That's beyond me," he said, suggesting that some longtime Democrats may be afraid to challenge the party's more progressive wing.
"The bottom line is ... let's look at the elections coming up. If the House changes ... if it flips over to Democrat control, a lot of the flipping is going to happen in kind of a purple area, not a hard blue area. [A] hard blue area is where they're going to maybe flip to DSA."
What lit a fire under billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk this midterm cycle?
He’s given more than $445 million to Republican candidates and causes this year, making him the single biggest disclosed donor in the 2026 midterms — and the biggest single donor in a midterm cycle ever.
All this makes the $288 million Musk gave to help elect President Donald Trump and Republicans in 2024 look miserly.
Why so much more? Because Musk realizes that keeping the Republican majority in Congress has become crucial to America’s secure and prosperous future.
On his social media platform, Musk shared a post last week agreeing that Democrats "must lose" the midterms. Critics claim he’s doing this because he fears investigations by a Democrat-controlled Congress. The truth is, he understands what it takes to build a strong America and what threatens to tear it down.
He’s not alone. He’s been joined by other tech and financial billionaires who are spending tens of millions to protect America’s future from the Democrats.
Tech entrepreneurs and venture capital giants Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz are major contributors to Trump’s MAGA, Inc.
Citadel’s Ken Griffin has spent at least $40 million to support Republican candidates.
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and his wife Christine have put up almost $32 million to Republican-affiliated political organizations and super PACs this election cycle.
It’s not just tech billionaires who’ve opened their wallets to the GOP. Uline founders Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein have reportedly put up $124 million for their own Restoration of America PAC, and roofing company ABC Supply Chairman Diane Hendricks has given $25 million to MAGA, Inc.
In 2025, we saw the denizens of America’s high-tech sector — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and key Google executives — paying out millions for Trump’s inauguration festivities. Bezos, Cook, Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Sam Altman even attended the inauguration in person — as did Elon Musk.
What did they understand about Trump and the GOP that the media didn’t?
This midterm cycle, according to The Washington Post, total Republican-leaning mega-donors have contributed $1.7 billion this cycle with Musk leading the way, compared to $832 million from Democratic-leaning givers.
Critics dismiss these donors as superrich oligarchs and robber barons trying to protect their ill-gotten money. Critics are wrong, tragically wrong. The truth is, the key stewards of our private sector economy are taking bold action to protect America’s future.
That’s because they see two possible paths to the future, and only two. One makes America strong, prosperous and secure, with tax cuts, investment, energy dominance and a strong, unequaled military.
One deals finally with the Iran that has destabilized the Middle East and killed thousands around the world, including American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, for four decades.
One sees the need to cut what the GAO says could be as much as $500 billion of fraud from the federal budget — the cause that rallied Elon Musk to the DOGE agenda in the first place.
The choice is clear to Elon Musk, and our private sector’s best and brightest founders and entrepreneurs. Those 77 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 now face the same choice. It is either to return to the voting booth in order to protect America’s safe and prosperous future or hand Congress over to those who want to bring back a bankrupt and discredited past.
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