Advertisement

Democrats Sound The Alarm, They Want Someone New In 2024

Advertisement

OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Top members of the Democrat Party do not want President Joe Biden on the presidential ticket in 2024 because they do not believe he can be reelected.

Republicans are expected to have massive victories in the 2022 midterms and just about all of the 50 Democrats interviewed do not believe that President Biden can help the Party keep the White House in 2024, The New York Times reported.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) member Steve Simeonidis, said that President Biden should step aside and allow someone else to take the reigns in the 2024 election.

β€œTo say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality,” he said to The Times. β€œ[Biden] should announce his intent not to seek re-election in ’24 right after the midterms.”

Advertisement

β€œDemocrats need fresh, bold leadership for the 2024 presidential race,” Shelia Huggins, a DNC member from North Carolina said. β€œThat can’t be Biden.”

Most top elected Democrats were reluctant to speak on the record about Mr. Biden’s future, and no one interviewed expressed any ill will toward Mr. Biden, to whom they are universally grateful for ousting Mr. Trump from office.

But theΒ repeated failuresΒ of his administration toΒ pass big-ticket legislationΒ on signature Democratic issues, as well as his halting efforts to use the bully pulpit of the White House to move public opinion, have left the president withΒ sagging approval ratingsΒ and a party that, as much as anything, seems to feel sorry for him.

That has left Democratic leaders struggling to explain away a series of calamities for the party that all seem beyond Mr. Biden’s control:Β inflationΒ ratesΒ unseen in four decades,Β surging gas prices, aΒ lingering pandemic, a spate ofΒ mass shootings, a Supreme Court poised toΒ end the federal right to an abortion, and key congressional Democrats’ refusal to muscle through the president’s Build Back Better agenda or an expansion of voting rights.

The majority of those who were interviewed expressed concerns about the president’s age, 79 right now and 82 in 2024.

β€œThe presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,” David Axelrod, former President Obama’s chief strategist for both of his campaigns, said.

β€œBiden doesn’t get the credit he deserves for steering the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House,” he said. β€œAnd part of the reason he doesn’t is performative. He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality.”

Advertisement

But some of President Biden’s supporters disagreed that he is not the correct person for the job.

β€œOnly one person steered a transition past Trump’s lies and court challenges and insurrection to take office on Jan. 20: Joe Biden,” one of the president’s senior advisors, Anita Dunn, said.

Other Biden allies dismissed suggestions that any other Democrat would do better than him in 2024.

Test your skills with this Quiz!

β€œThis is the same hand-wringing that we heard about Barack Obama in 2010 and 2011,” Ben LaBolt, who worked on former President Obama’s campaigns, said.

CristΓ³bal Alex, who used to be a senior adviser for the Biden campaign and also served as the deputy cabinet secretary in the White House until May, said Biden is the only Democrat that would be able to win the election in 2024.

β€œI am worried that leaders in the party aren’t more aggressively touting the success of the administration,” he said to The Times. β€œThe narrative needs to shift, and that can only happen with a powerful echo chamber combined with action in Congress on remaining priorities. The American people feel unsettled.”

Advertisement