For a brief moment on Sunday following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election in November, Sen. Joe Manchin considered switching parties back to Democrat to explore running for office. That changed a short while later as support coalesced around Vice President Kamala Harris, but don’t expect Manchin, I-W.Va., to sit on the sidelines and simply toe the line for any nominee the Democrats put forth.

“I am not running for office,” Manchin said Monday on CBS, comments he reiterated several times through the day.

What Manchin said he would like to see is an open nominating process, in which Democrats would choose the best candidate with the best platform for America’s future.

Manchin said Vice President Harris doesn’t represent the country as a whole, noting she is “too far left” in a nation in which “25% of all people are Republicans, 23% are Democrats and 51% are Independent.”

“My main thing is that we have a voice. I want the middle to have a voice,” Manchin said.

“We’re not extreme left, we’re not extreme right. I don’t run my life that way. Why do I have to only have two choices of a party?”

That’s a great question, but it’s one that can’t be answered prior to the November election. Democrats have a short window to select a new candidate prior to their August convention; in Manchin’s view, that candidate needs to be someone that can unite the country. He doesn’t see Harris fitting that bill.

It will be interesting to see where Democrats go over the coming days, and what role Manchin plays, if any. Finding a candidate that appeals to the middle would be a novel idea in today’s political climate.