Will Manchin lead Dems?

After stepping down from his honorary position with No Labels, will Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) find a new way to help lead Democrats?

Manchin’s image in his party grew, when he joined the nonprofit group, which launched in 2010 to help both parties in Congress work together.

“Not a whole lot is getting passed [in Congress] because of the toxic atmosphere, and that’s really why we at No Labels are trying to bring common-sense solutions,” Manchin told The Hill in 2013, while he served as an honorary co-chairman of the organization.

{mosads}But Manchin’s loyalty to the group, along with his bipartisan spirit, might have taken a hit with the Democrats’ massive defeat in the midterm election, which included Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) taking Sen. Mark Udall’s (D-Colo.) Senate seat.

No Labels publicly endorsed Gardner in the race, which outraged Democrats, including Manchin.

The West Virginia Democrat did not explicitly cite the Colorado race as his reason for stepping down, instead saying that his day-to-day duties as a Senator have made him unable to partake in group activities any longer.

But now that Manchin is stepping out of the No Labels spotlight, questions remain as to how, or if, he will take charge and help his party, which was left reeling last week.

“I don’t like what I’ve been involved with the last four years,” he told MSNBC on election night. “We can’t continue down the path because nothing gets done.”

Manchin could leave Congress altogether, perhaps for a gubernatorial run in his state, according to Time magazine. Manchin said he wouldn’t decide until the Senate comes back early next year.

“Whatever I do in the future, I want to see the restructuring of the Senate — where we are [and] how we’re going to operate,” he told the magazine. “There will be a trend pretty quick by February or March. We’ll be able to say, ‘Is it same-old, same-old or is it really moving in a different direction?’ “

– David McCabe contributed to this report