Schumer brushes off talk of possible primary threats to Manchin, Sinema

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined in an interview released Wednesday to say whether he would back Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) if the moderate Democrats faced primary challenges.

CNN reported that the Democratic leader refused to say in an interview whether he would back Sinema and Manchin, who have both drawn progressives’ ire, in potential primaries or if he would stay neutral. Neither senator is up for reelection until 2024.

“I am focused on 2022, getting things done, and winning the election on 2022,” Schumer told CNN. “I’m not at all focused on 2024 right now, and neither should anyone else be. That’s just how you lose in 2022.”

Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. The Hill has reached out to Sinema’s and Manchin’s offices for comment. 

Schumer brushed off a similar question last month about whether he would support possible efforts to primary both senators in 2024.

“I’m not getting into the politics. This is a substantive serious issue,” he replied amid a push by Democrats to reform the Senate filibuster rules.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), asked last month before the Senate voted on whether to change filibuster rules for voting rights legislation, similarly dodged a question about whether her more moderate colleagues should face primary challenges.

“We’ll address that when we get past this week,” the progressive Democrat replied at the time.

Manchin and Sinema joined all 50 Senate Republicans in January to sink a measure that sought to change the chamber’s filibuster rules in order to advance a voting rights bill.

Democrats sought to put pressure on the pair to back the effort and have pushed the senators to support other legislation central to President Biden’s agenda. Manchin said in December that he could not support the sprawling Build Back Better Act.

Some Democrats have signaled openness to backing efforts to challenge one or both of the senators when they come up for reelection.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) last month answered, “Yeah, I would” when asked if he would be open to supporting a challenger to Manchin and Sinema.

Democratic strategist James Carville told Vox’s Sean Illing in an interview last week that he would help with fundraising for Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) if he ran for Senate, but he said that he still supported Manchin.

“She’s not going to win a primary against Rep. Ruben Gallego, I’ll tell you that damn much,” Carville said of Sinema. “And I will personally volunteer to help him fundraise because I think we can keep that seat if he runs.”