Joe Manchin says he won't be running for reelection to US Senate in 2024

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on Thursday shared a video statement on social media announcing that he will not run for reelection in 2024, a blow to his party’s chances to hold control of the Senate in next year’s election.

"After months of deliberation and long conversation with my family, I believe, in my heart of hearts, that I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia," the moderate Democrat said in the video statement.

"I have made one of the toughest decisions of my life, and decided that I will not be running for reelection to United States Senate."

Democrats will have to defend seats in other competitive states as a result of Manchin's decision to not run again in such a strongly Republican state with the Democratic Caucus currently holding a slim 51-49 majority in the chamber, according to CNN.

Montana Senator Steve Daines, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a statement minutes after Manchin's announcement, saying, “We like our odds in West Virginia.”

Manchin, a former governor of West Virginia, made clear in his announcement that he would not be leaving politics but it is still unclear what specifically he will do after leaving Capitol Hill.

“But what I will be doing is traveling the country and speaking out, to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle, and bring Americans together,” he said.

Manchin, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010, has faced opposition from his party members both inside and outside the Capitol.

Despite helping US President Joe Biden achieve legislative victories in the first half of his term, Manchin has been a vocal critic of Biden on environmental, energy, and economic issues.

Biden paid tribute to the West Virginia Democrat in a statement Thursday, writing that the two "have worked together to get things done for hardworking families."

"For more than forty years — as a state legislator, a Secretary of State, a Governor, and a Senator — Joe Manchin has dedicated himself to serving the people of his beloved West Virginia," Biden wrote, pointing towards Manchin's support of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act.

Biden's remark also points to Manchin's vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, among other things.