Democratic leaders are publicly rallying behind Joe Biden to be their guy for the 2024 presidential election — potentially setting up a rematch with Donald Trump — but it’s reportedly a different behind-the-scenes story.
According to a recent Politico article, Biden is facing doubt from some “high-level Democrats” who may only support the president because they fear what a Biden-less ticket might look like.
“High-level Democrats are rallying behind President Biden’s re-election not because they believe it is in the country’s best interest to run an 82-year-old for a second term, but because they fear the potential alternative: the nomination of Kamala Harris and election of Donald Trump,” the report said.
In 2020, Biden and Vice President Harris defeated Trump when they received more votes than any other presidential ticket in US history. But just three years later, Biden has an approval rating in the 1940s and numerous verbal missteps have given the White House press team headaches.
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Biden will address the press during his walk to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday, March 3, 2023. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
According to the Politico report, a senator at the National Governor’s Association meeting in February went so far as to question whether Biden had the stamina for the presidential campaign season. Biden won his first election during the COVID pandemic with travel restrictions and spent much of his time campaigning from his basement.
At the same NGA winter meeting, a congressman said “Harris was not an option,” Politico reported.
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Roundtable at Chinatown Him Mark Lai Library in San Francisco, California, United States on March 3, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Former White House and Pentagon official Douglas MacKinnon said that if not Biden or Harris, Democrats could look to a superstar of the past to create a more viable ticket.
Former first lady Michelle Obama’s name was floated ahead of the latest Democratic presidential primaries, though she has repeatedly denied any interest in running for office. At 59, and with her “it” factor (as McKinnon calls it), she could emerge as a top candidate and the Democrats could push her to run.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during her visit to the Victoria Garden in Ahmedabad on February 5, 2023. (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Other candidates could include those who previously won the Democratic presidential nomination, possibly a revival of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, or Al Gore (setting up another rematch between Clinton and Trump).
However, the hypothetical candidates do not address the concerns of some voters who want a younger president, as Clinton is 75, Kerry is 79 and Gore is 74.
Democrats could also look to past candidates who generated public support but ultimately failed to win the nomination. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Cory Booker, D-NJ, each ran in 2020 and could potentially run for another presidential bid.
Warren is 73 and Sanders is 81, Klobuchar is 62 and Booker is 53.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also ran and lost in 2020, but joined the Biden administration and has further expanded his political resume over the past three years.
He’s 41.
Beto O’Rourke, who recently lost a statewide race in Texas, is 50.
Former US President Donald Trump addresses the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, 55, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, 51, could also look into moving from their respective state offices to the White House.
Each of these candidates, McKinnon notes, should pull strategically to explain why the Democrats pulled away from Biden or Harris.
“Are the chances of a superstar of the past becoming the 2024 nominee a pipe dream? Most likely. But with the river of political denial threatening to wash away the Democrats’ chances in 2024, what else is a party to do?” he asked.
Currently, self-help author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson is the only candidate to run a long-running challenge to Biden.
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“We’re angry about this country, we’re worried about this country,” Williamson told a crowd on Saturday as she officially launched her campaign. “It is our job to create a vision of justice and love so powerful that it will overcome the forces of hatred, injustice and fear.”
Self-help author Marianne Williamson addresses the crowd as she launches her 2024 presidential campaign in Washington, Saturday, March 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Williamson, 70, also ran in 2020.
“I’ve run for president before. I’m not naive about these forces that have no intention of letting anyone into this conversation who doesn’t align with their predetermined agenda,” she added. “I understand that, in their eyes, only people who have previously ensconced themselves in the car that brought us into this ditch could possibly be considered qualified to get us out.”
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According to a Fox News poll last month, 37% of Democratic primary voters want to keep Biden as their party’s nominee, while 53% said they’d like someone else to run.
The Associated Press contributed to this report