‘We’ve Got An Extra Chair at Lunch’: Rand Paul Says He’d Welcome Joe Manchin as ‘Important Voice’ in GOP

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Wednesday that he would welcome Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) into the Republican Party.

This development followed a report in Mother Jones on Wednesday that Manchin, a crucial vote in the 50-50 Senate that Democrats control since Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote, has been “considering leaving the Democratic Party if President Joe Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill do not agree to his demand to cut the size of the social infrastructure bill from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion.”

“We have an extra chair for him at lunch. It’s sitting there waiting for him. We are ready to see him. We’re a big party and I think he’d have a place. He’s a pro-energy senator from an adjacent state to mine, pro-coal, pro-fossil fuels,” said Paul during an appearance on The Story With Martha MacCallum on Fox News. “He’s unaccepted in the Democratic caucus. They seem to hate everything that his state produces. We’d welcome him on our side.”

“I can’t have any predictions that it would actually ever happen,” he continued. “But I promise you, he’s got a seat at the table and a big important voice in our caucus if he chooses to come over.”

Earlier in the day, Manchin denied the Mother Jones report and called it “bullsh*t.”

Watch above, via Fox News.