Senator Joe Manchin announced on Friday that he had left the Democratic Party to become an independent as many have wondered whether he will run for governor of his home state of West Virginia.

Mr Manchin was the last Democrat in a statewide office and announced in November that he would not seek re-election. He announced his decision in a statement on Friday.

“Throughout my days in elected office, I have always been proud of my commitment to common sense, bipartisanship and my desire to bring people together,” he said. “It’s who I am. It’s who I will always be. I have never seen America through a partisan lens.”

Mr Manchin decried extremism on both sides of the political aisle.

He had previously flirted with running for president as an independent or as a candidate through No Labels, a centrist organization that promoted the idea of a bipartisan unity ticket.