Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday she would have "no qualms" about voting for a Democrat in the 2024 election, but one with a surname of Manchin, not Biden.
In an interview with PBS' Margaret Hoover on "Firing Line," Murkowski was incredulous about the prospects of a sequel between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in 2024.
Saying Americans are craving a better candidate, a candidate who meets them in the middle, Murkowski said she would vote for Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
"If we go into a 2024 scenario where it's basically a redo of 2020 between Trump and Biden, what does that say?" Murkowski told Hoover. "That we have nobody better than these two? And so, an independent or somebody who's offering something in the middle, people are hungry for that."
Moments later, she said, "If it's a matchup between Biden and Trump, I know exactly where I'd go. I would go with Joe Manchin. I am one who doesn't like to use my vote for the lesser of two evils. I want to be proactive in who I think could do the job."
Manchin has raised eyebrows and sparked conversation with his comments about the Democratic Party and his appearance at a town hall in New Hampshire sponsored by the No Labels political organization. However, he has not declared an intention to run for president.
Murkowski told Hoover — who asked twice — she didn't know if throwing her vote behind Manchin, hypothetically, would help usher Trump into the White House.
"I would really have to do some serious evaluation," Murkowski said. "Who knows what's going to happen in the months ahead. We just don't know."
A Monmouth University poll released Thursday found that a named ticket gets less support than a generic one, but that doesn't mean Americans are "on board" with a third-party candidate, per the poll.
"In a replay of the 2020 election, some voters clearly feel they have to back a candidate they don't really like. That suggests there may be an opening for a third party in 2024, but when you drill down further, there doesn't seem to be enough defectors to make that a viable option," said Patrick Murray, director of Monmouth's Polling Institute.
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