Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) scolded Vice President Mike Pence during a Thursday appearance on CNN for going to his state and telling West Virginians what is best for them.
Host Chris Cuomo played a clip of Pence's remarks while visiting White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia during an annual Republican retreat. Cuomo dismissed the vice president's comments, which extolled the benefits of tax reform for West Virginians, and said he had done his "homework."
"I looked him in the eye and I told him, 'Joe, the people of the mountain state are counting on you,'" Pence said of a conversation with Manchin. "And I said, 'Let's get this tax cut done together.' But Joe voted no. Joe voted no to give working families more of your hard-earned money."
Cuomo asked Manchin, who is up for reelection this year, how he viewed Pence's decision to "undercut" him in his state.
"Well, it tells you basically the leadership that we have in the Vice President Mike Pence. He's been a governor. I was a governor of my state," Manchin said. "Never once did I attack a Republican because I was a Democrat governor. I looked at them as West Virginians. I needed them to help my state and we had to work together and fix our state and we always did that."
Manchin did not mention that he served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association during the 2008 election cycle, working to defeat Republican governors across the country.
He then scolded Pence for attacking him over not voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, saying he was not going to "throw 200,000 West Virginians off of health care."
Later in the interview, Manchin said he attended 21 different meetings with Trump administration officials and Republican lawmakers, ultimately offering four proposals on tax reform.
"You left the average West Virginian working person with a temporary tax. And on top of that, to add insult to injury, Mr. Vice President, you went ahead and repealed the mandate, which unraveled the health care," Manchin said. "So you are still determined to throw all these West Virginians, hundreds of thousands, off of health care."
"You're right, Mr. Vice President. I did not vote for that because it is not good for West Virginia and you should not come to my state, saying that you know what is best for my state when you would do everything you could to harm my state," Manchin added.
The feud between Pence and Manchin was ignited Wednesday prior to Pence's speech when he sent out a series of tweets attacking Manchin on his health care, immigration, Planned Parenthood, and tax reform votes.
Manchin, who generally portrays himself as the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, responded to Pence in a statement, saying the vice president's attacks are why "Washington sucks."
"I am shocked that after the vice president worked for almost a year in a divisive and partisan way to take health care away from almost 200,000 West Virginians, bankrupt our hospitals, and push tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and huge corporations that he would come to West Virginia and continue his partisan attacks," Manchin said.
"Last week, I worked in a bipartisan way with Senator Collins to end the shutdown, and last night President Trump called for unity and bipartisanship," the senator continued. "The vice president's comments are exactly why Washington Sucks. I'm disappointed in his comments but will continue to work to make Washington work so West Virginia and our country work."
UPDATED 12:36 P.M.: This story was updated to note that Manchin served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association in 2008.