Manchin suggests Collins should become independent

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Cite

Weigel, D. (2026, October 23). Manchin suggests Collins should become independent. Semafor. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/23/2026/manchin-suggests-collins-should-become-independent

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Semafor · collected 2026-10-23 · by David Weigel

Quick Summary

Joe Manchin, a former West Virginia senator who now identifies as an independent, suggested that Susan Collins, Republican senator from Maine, should also become an independent during a visit to a New Balance factory this week. Manchin runs the Independent Leadership Council and is actively promoting candidates outside of major parties for Congress in several states, though his organization has not supported Collins's re-election campaign directly.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-23, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Joe Manchin, a former Democratic senator from West Virginia who became an independent before retiring, traveled to Maine on October 19-21 to campaign with Republican Senator Susan Collins. The visit was aimed at highlighting Collins' bipartisan efforts and her reputation for independence, which has been under attack by Democrats who argue she supports President Donald Trump too often.

Manchin praised Collins as a "true blue-blooded Maine person" who knows how to fight for the state's interests. He also warned that losing Collins would be “to lose the soul of the Senate.” However, Troy Jackson, the Democratic challenger, is campaigning with progressive allies like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The Maine AFL-CIO President, Cynthia Phinney, criticized Collins for campaigning with Manchin, citing his work with Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm she claims has "killed hundreds of Maine jobs."

During a visit to a New Balance shoe factory in Norway, Maine, Manchin suggested that Collins should consider becoming an independent like he did. He runs the Independent Leadership Council, which aims to recruit more politicians outside major parties.

Collins is facing a tough reelection battle as Democrats emphasize her alignment with Trump's policies and highlight her bipartisan efforts to appeal to voters.

Written for “Manchin Campaigns With Collins In Maine” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.35, but all 2 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 101345: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-23

Story

📰 Manchin Campaigns With Collins In Maine
Politics · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Maine Sen. Collins enlists ex-Democratic colleague Manchin in effort to highlight her independence same event · 95%
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 2 of 40 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe Senator Susan Collins campaigning with former Democratic Senator Joe Manchin to highlight her independence in Maine.”
F*ck Joe Manchin different event · 50%
The Bulwark
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 8
“While both articles mention Joe Manchin's visit to Maine and his support for Susan Collins, they describe different aspects of the event and are not clearly reporting on the same specific occurrence.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
8
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 8 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
60/100
Semafor's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-23 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Semafor · 1195 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)
2026-10-16
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Who wrote this

David Weigel
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Also by David Weigel
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 13 articles by David Weigel →

Topics

Democrat Maine NORWAY Semafor West Virginia

Subjects

Maine GPE · 3× Collins PERSON · 2× Manchin PERSON · 2× Democrat NORP · 1× Joe Manchin PERSON · 1× NORWAY GPE · 1× New Balance ORG · 1× Semafor ORG · 1× Susan Collins PERSON · 1× West Virginia GPE · 1×

Narrative

“She has to come to that conclusion, but she is independent,” Manchin, a former Democrat, told Semafor after joining Collins this week on a tour of a New Balance shoe factory in Maine.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-23
2026-10-23 · Semafor
Manchin suggests Collins should become independent · assertive framing

Claims (8 extracted, 0 hedged)

Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin thinks Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, should follow in his footsteps by leaving her party to become an independent. asserted
Collins → think → party
“She has to come to that conclusion, but she is independent,” Manchin, a former Democrat, told Semafor after joining Collins this week on a tour of a New Balance shoe factory in Maine. asserted
Manchin → have → Maine
“She’s as independent as any Republican is up there. asserted
Republican → ’ → ?
But the bottom line is, she has to make that decision.” asserted
she → have → decision
Manchin is running a project to elect more members of Congress outside the major parties. asserted
Manchin → run → parties
The Independent Leadership Council, which he co-founded this summer asserted
he → co → which
, is focusing on challengers in Montana, Idaho, and Nebraska; the group has not spent money to boost Collins in her difficult reelection battle. asserted
group → focus → battle
“I’ll be recruiting!” he said. asserted
he → recruit → ?
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