Joe Manchin because his replacement would flip the Senate to GOP control.
That would be stupid since he's basically already the senator the GOP can convince to do things while other Democrats aren't open, and he's already DOA.Manchin is a hardline, partisan Democrat on >90% of the legislation that moves through the Senate. He and Sinema are front-and-center in taking positions that irk liberal activists only so Feinstein, Carper, Warner, Coons, etc. don't have to.
Trading him out for a Republican to get a 51-seat majority has no downside for the GOP whatsoever.
Joe Manchin because his replacement would flip the Senate to GOP control.
Ohio and Montana are not anywhere near as Republican as West Virginia, however, and it's not hard to see either state electing a Democrat over a controversial GOP nominee in a 2021 special election. On the other hand, someone worse than Roy Moore would probably still manage to win West Virginia.
