©  The Hill/Greg Nash

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Thursday he won’t run for reelection, ending speculation over what would have been a bruising reelection bid while leaving the door open to a potential presidential campaign.

Manchin said his political future involves “traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.” In recent months, the conservative Democrat has flirted with a potential independent 2024 presidential bid.

From The Hill’s Al Weaver: “Manchin’s decision … leaves a major void in the center of the Senate. He has been at the center of bipartisan negotiations of many stripes in recent years and has been widely considered the most moderate member of the Senate Democratic caucus.”

That status has led to clashes with his own party, but it also uniquely positioned Manchin to have a shot at winning in deep-red West Virginia, even as his approval rating was low among voters.

Democrats already faced a tough map for holding onto their narrow Senate majority in 2024, and Manchin’s retirement makes it even more difficult.

The Cook Political Report changed its Senate race rating from “toss-up” to “solid Republican” immediately after Manchin’s announcement.

Read more here

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• If you missed last night’s GOP debate, or could simply benefit from some distillation, The Hill’s Julia Mueller has you covered with five debate takeaways.
  
  

• Jill Stein is seeking the Green Party nomination for president in 2024. She was the party’s nominee in 2016, when Democrats accused her of playing spoiler in key states and ultimately helping elect Donald Trump.
  
  

• Feminist news and opinion website Jezebel is shutting down, G/O Media informed employees.

©  AP/Jacquelyn Martin

A Michigan Court of Claims judge heard arguments Thursday on whether Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) can keep former President Trump off the state’s ballots and assess his eligibility to serve as president again.

This is one of several cases brought by groups and activists arguing Trump is ineligible for office under the 14th Amendment. The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a similar case on Wednesday, and a trial in Colorado is ongoing.

Former President Trump leads President Biden by 9 points in Georgia and North Carolina, according to the latest batch of swing-state polls from Bloomberg/Morning Consult released Thursday evening.

• Trump also leads in four of the other five states — Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — by 2 to 4 points.
  
  
• Biden is up 1 point in Michigan, according to Morning Consult.
  
  
• Trump’s leads in Georgia and North Carolina are beyond the margins of error, while his other leads are within the MOE.

Trump maintained leads in the same six states when independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West were not included in the question.

MORE POLLING ANALYSIS: Check out The Hill’s coverage of recent battleground state polling from The New York Times/Siena College.

And check back tomorrow for Part 4 of Evening Report’s Friday Figures Swing State Series, when we’ll dive into data from Nevada!

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took a procedural step Thursday to move a legislative vehicle for passing a short-term government funding measure next week. The funding deadline is next Friday.

Schumer urged new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republicans to “learn from the fiasco of a month ago. Hard-right proposals, hard-right slash and cuts, hard-right poison pills that have zero support from Democrats will only make a shutdown more likely,” Schumer said. 

What’ll be in the Senate’s stopgap is unclear as of now, but top Democrats want to extend funding until shortly before Christmas, while Johnson has discussed a stopgap into January. Read more here.

©  The Hill/Greg Nash

The White House updated guidance on how agencies make regulatory decisions for the first time in 20 years. The new guidance features instructions for agencies to give greater weight to an action’s impacts on the future, to assess impacts on different communities and more.

NewsNation will host the fourth GOP presidential primary debate on Dec. 6. Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas and The Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Eliana Johnson will moderate the event.

NewsNation and The Hill are both owned by Nexstar Media Group.

“Media is meant to inform, but is it stoking the flames of war in the Middle East?” — Tara D. Sonenshine, the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Public Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. (Read here)

“She saw Trump coming in 2016 better than anyone. What does Salena Zito see for 2024?” — Steve Krakauer, a NewsNation contributor and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast. (Read here)

8 days until the government funding deadline.

Friday: Veterans Day (Saturday) observed.

Check out the “Powerful Women Over 50” event featuring The Hill’s Julia Manchester along with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas and Ashleigh Banfield from Thursday afternoon.

Speakers included Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett and more.

You’re all caught up! Stay with TheHill.com for the latest and recommend this newsletter to others: TheHill.com/Evening. See you tomorrow.