Biden: Orman will be with Democrats

Vice President Biden on Tuesday predicted that independent Greg Orman will caucus with Democrats if he wins a Senate seat in Kansas.

“We have a chance of picking up an independent who will be with us in the state of Kansas,” Biden said in an interview Tuesday with WPL.

Orman’s campaign manager pushed back, saying the candidate has “never spoken to the vice president in his life.”

“Greg is an independent, and he’s not going to Washington represent the Democrats or the Republicans — he’s going to represent the people of Kansas,” campaign manager Jim Jonas said.

{mosads}Orman himself said earlier in the day that he hadn’t decided which party to caucus with if he were to defeat Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.).

“I’m going to caucus with whichever party really wants to solve problems in the country,” Orman told MSNBC. “Either party, if they’re willing to solve our problems, I’m willing to work with them.”

Orman added that “in some cases, I agree more with the Republican position on issues, and in other cases I agree more with the Democratic position on issues.”

The question of which party Orman would caucus with has loomed large over his race. With the majority up for grabs, Republicans have warned Kansas voters that ousting Roberts for Orman could leave the Senate under Democratic control.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he was not aware of any back-channel conversations between the White House and Orman over whom he would caucus with.

“I can’t account for any conversations that the vice president may have had, but I’m certainly not aware of any special knowledge that’s retained by any White House staffer that I’ve spoken to about this issue,” Earnest said. “I have not spoken to the vice president about it, so I don’t know who he’s talked to.”

Asked if the president wanted to endorse Orman, Earnest declined.

“The president hasn’t made an endorsement in that race. There’s no Democratic candidate in the race,” Earnest said.

— This story was updated at 4:09 p.m.