Manchin said he serves 'a complete different constituency' compared to other Democrats. Polls show more West Virginia voter support voting rights bills.
is defending his opposition to his party's voting rights legislation, saying his decisions are made with his rural constituents in mind, not Washington bureaucrats.
"We've come from different areas. It's not just all urban, metropolitan areas. Those of us who come from rural areas, and there's a complete different constituency that we all serve," Manchin told"So I think I've been more than considerate on the things that I've been, and where I can't, I've been telling them from day one: I'm not a Washington Democrat, so the base they have is a different base than I have," the West Virginia senator said.
However, a recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling found that more West Virginia voters supported passage of the voting rights legislation than those who opposed it. Fifty percent said they backed theBen Jealous, president of the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way, said these figures dispute Manchin's claim that he's voting for the people who elected him.
"Voters in Arizona and West Virginia want their U.S. senators to pass voting rights bills and to do whatever it takes to accomplish that," Jealous said in a Wednesday statement. "Senators go to Washington to represent the people who elected them. And it's clear that if Sens. Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema want to faithfully represent their constituents, they need to vote in favor of voting rights legislation and in favor of changing