Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., appeared in a Republican campaign ad to defend David McKinley, RW.Va., from accusations that he backed President Biden’s agenda to build better. “I always said that if I could not go home and explain it, I could not vote for it, so I opposed Build Back Better,” Manchin said at a 30-second point this weekend. Manchin went on to defend McKinley against a claim by Republican challenger Alex Mooney, who accused McKinley of effectively backing Build Back Better by voting in favor of the $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. SEN. JO MANCIN SAYS HE IS OPEN TO A NEW VERSION OF BIDEN’S BEST AGENDA “To suggest that Alex Mooney and his overseas supporters suggested that David McKinley supported Build Back Better is a complete lie,” he said. “David McKinley has always been opposed to reckless spending because it makes no sense for West Virginia.” Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks at a press conference outside his office in the Capitol on October 6, 2021, in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images) “Alex Mooney has proven to be for Alex Mooney,” Manchin concluded. “But the people of West Virginia know that David McKinley is about us.” Both Mooney and McKinley are currently in the House of Representatives, but new congressional maps place McKinley, representing the 1st District of West Virginia, in the 2nd District of the state where Mooney is. the existing one. Both announced their struggles to represent the same area in October 2021. Mooney accused McKinley of helping to break the slide for Build Back Better in November 2021. He noted that Biden’s “NO to Infrastructure” package would not have passed the House without the 13 Republicans who voted for it. (Many critics have argued that traditional infrastructure accounted for a small percentage of the bill.) Spokesman David McKinley, RW.Va., speaks during his meeting at City Hall inside the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the campus of Shepherdstown University in Shepherdstown, W.Va. on Monday, April 25, 2022. (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images) Although Mooney did not name McKinley in his video, he argued that Republicans who voted in favor of the infrastructure package “now paved the way for Democrats to pass President Biden’s Socialist Plan Back Better.” 2022 IS FORMED TO BE ANOTHER YEAR OF PRODUCTION FOR THE REPUBLICS, CANDIDATES SAY However, McKinley did not vote in favor of the Build Back Better bill, which Manchin effectively blocked late last year. Former President Trump has backed Mooney in the race, as have representatives Lauren Bobbert, R-Colo., And Ronnie Jackson, R-Texas, along with the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, and the Conservative Union. United States Representative Alex Mooney (West Virginia Republican) offers remarks at a press conference on Cuba Independence Day, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, Thursday, May 20, 2021. / Offer: Rod Lamkey CNP / Sipa USA) However, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved McKinley, along with Mancin, West Virginia Republican Governor Jim Justice, Andrew Young, and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Senator Shelley Moore-Capito, RW.Va., refused to support a candidate. Ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, RW. . ) CNN’s chief correspondent in Congress Manu Raju wrote on Twitter that analysts consider Mooney a possible challenger to Manchin in the 2024 Senate race. CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION Last month, Manchin suggested he would be open to supporting another version of Build Back Better if it were tightly geared to tackling climate change, lowering prescription drug prices and reducing the deficit.