Kamala backtracks after guaranteeing Biden will run in 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris prompted new uncertainty over whether President Biden will run for president in 2024 by revising comments she previously made promising he would ‘full stop.’
On Monday Harris said in an interview with CNN‘s Dana Bash: ‘Joe Biden is running for reelection, and I will be his ticket mate. Full stop.’
On Wednesday, the vice president pool reporter said in an email circulated widely to other journalists: ‘The White House said VPOTUS wanted to clarify comments she made on CNN a few days ago. When asked if Biden was definitely running, Harris replied: ‘The president intends to run and if he does, I will be his ticket mate. We Will run together.’
The new statement sounded less confident in a Biden-Harris ticket than the original, and it’s unclear why the vice president’s office chose to put out less certain wording two days after the fact.
A Democrat close to the White House told the Los Angeles Times that Harris’ revision was not an indication that Biden’s plans to run again had changed. Instead, the follow-up statement was to avoid using ‘trigger words’ that would set off Federal Election Commission requirements for Biden to establish a formal campaign and begin fundraising.
Vice President Kamala Harris prompted new uncertainty over whether President Biden will run for president in 2024 by revising comments she previously made promising he would ‘full stop’
On Monday Harris said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash: ‘Joe Biden is running for reelection, and I will be his ticket mate. Full stop’
Biden, who would be 81 years old when he ran for office a second time, has faced a mountain of discussions about potential primary challengers compared to other first-term president this early in office.
Lawmakers within the president’s own party have been hesitant to get behind him at this point. Earlier this month, firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refused to say she would back a Biden 2024 campaign during an interview on CNN.
‘Should he run again, I think that I – you know, I think it’s – it’s, we’ll take a look at it,’ the New York Democrat said. ‘But, right now, we need to focus on winning a majority, instead of a presidential election.’
West Virginia conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin also would not tell the New York Times whether he would support Biden, brushing off the question with, ‘We’re just trying to do our daily thing, brother.’
‘Trying to do what we got to do that’s good for the country,’ said the senator, who reports suggest has fielded requests from wealthy donors to run as a third-party candidate in 2024.
But Biden and his team see perceptions that he is a ‘lame duck’ less than halfway through his first term as a ‘lack of respect,’ the Times reports based off anonymous conversations with people who speak regularly with the commander-in-chief.
The report suggests that Biden’s allies believe his ability to beat Donald Trump in 2020 is reason enough to support his candidacy, which comes amid the ex-president’s ever-increasing hints that he’s looking to run for office a third time.
It cites left-wing Democratic voters’ frustration with party leaders for failing to mount an adequate response to the Supreme Court overturning federal abortion protections in Roe v. Wade.
Many felt that Biden and Congressional Democrats fell short of expectations after having more than a month to prepare since the draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked in Politico early last month.
Progressives like ‘Squad’ members Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar have publicly called out broad messages to ‘go vote,’ being pushed by the Biden administration, without presenting a more detailed plan on what Democrats can do with that support.
Biden adviser Cedric Richmond told the Times that Democrats were also ‘putting too much into these polling numbers’ that reflect a favorability issue that’s plagued the president since about halfway through his first year in office.
As of Wednesday, Biden’s average approval rating across a whole spate of polls is 39.2 percent, according to FiveThirty Eight.
On Tuesday Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger refused to commit to backing a Biden-Harris ticket in 2024. ‘I’m looking squarely toward 2022 and the reelection ahead of me,’ she said.
Pressed if Biden was best positioned out of Democrats to take on Trump, the congresswoman said: ‘Ive been very clear that i think there are incredible leaders across the Democratic Party and that it is time to usher in new leadership.’
Meanwhile, eighty-five percent of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track, and 79 percent describe the economy as poor, according to dire findings in a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The Monday Times report suggests that the timing of Biden’s formal re-election announcement would not come before the November midterm elections, a period Trump has teased for his potential bid.
White House aides also cast doubt on challenges rumored to be brewing from current state leaders like Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
They told the Times that Pritzker gave Biden advanced notice ahead of a recent speech in New Hampshire, a popular stomping ground for presidential hopefuls, and that the popular moderate is also courting party leaders to hold the 2024 nominating convention in Chicago.
Newsom’s hype was written off as ‘a politician feeling his oats’ after a decisive victory against opponents’ recall effort.