Sen. Joe Manchin donates to King, Golden reelection campaigns [Video]

Two Maine lawmakers are among a bipartisan trio of politicians seeking reelection and singled out for campaign cash by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who recently left the Democratic Party to become the Senate’s third independent.

Manchin said this week that Country Roads PAC, which he controls, will give $5,000 apiece to U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, both from Maine, along with U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican.

“All three always put country over party,” Manchin wrote in a column this week for CNN.

The money is a drop in the bucket in today’s costly campaigns, but the statement it makes may resonate among corporate and political leaders who are searching for ways to restore a more centrist, compromise-minded Congress.

Manchin has a record of endorsing candidates from both sides of the political aisle. He backed U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, during her hotly contested 2020 reelection …