Joe Manchin ‘Stunned’ By AOC’s Charlie Kirk Rant: Dems ‘Are Getting Worse, Not Better’

Former Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) said that comments from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination were proof that the Democratic Party was “getting worse, not better.”

Manchin joined CNN host Kasie Hunt to discuss the current political climate, and she began by referring to Ocasio-Cortez’s comments objecting to the Congressional resolution to honor the recently-murdered conservative commentator.

WATCH:

Former Democrat Senator Joe Manchin TORCHES AOC over her vile rhetoric about Charlie Kirk during a vote to condemn his assassination:

“If that’s the way the Democrat Party is going, it’s getting worse, not better.” pic.twitter.com/D7W18ohKlN

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2025

“She does say that we should ‘be clear about who Charlie Kirk was, a man who believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake,'” Hunt began. “She goes on to name some of the other things that he believes in. What was your reaction to her vote and to her statement afterward?”

“First of all, I just saw a little while ago, and I was stunned, Kasie. I really was,” Manchin replied. “This is not the place and the time for that at all. If the Democrats — if AOC and the far Left, the extreme Left I want to say — believe that’s where the party, the Democratic Party, is today, then that’ll tell you why you lost people like me, and an awful lot.”

“Now, let me tell you what you’ve lost,” Manchin continued. “Since the last election, they’ve been doing their national tour and thinking, boy, that’s something, we’re really getting into something. The Democratic Party has lost more than 160,000 Democrats that have basically left the party since the November election. So if that’s the way the Democrat Party is going, it’s getting worse, not better.”

Ocasio-Cortez was not the only one to use the resolution as an opportunity to smear Kirk and his legacy.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ):

My statement on the House vote on the Charlie Kirk resolution. pic.twitter.com/bU0GAG6WD2

— Rep. Mikie Sherrill (@RepSherrill) September 19, 2025

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS):

Today, I voted against the Charlie Kirk Resolution.

While I condemn his violent murder, this resolution sought to elevate Charlie Kirk as a role model.

I could not support in good conscience.

Read my statement below: pic.twitter.com/LLou7Xq8on

— Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (@BennieGThompson) September 19, 2025

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA):

Charlie Kirk’s death is a tragedy, and I condemn all political violence from wherever it comes.

House Republicans designed today’s resolution as a political “gotcha” — one that attempts to put words in my mouth to endorse Kirk’s views.

I cannot do that, so I voted “no.” pic.twitter.com/9BuYajl7J8

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) September 19, 2025