President Joe Biden already has a couple of challengers for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson — but he may get another, who also happens to be a current member of Congress.
“I am thinking about it,” Rep. Dean Phillips told “The Warning” podcast on Friday in an episode that was posted on Monday.
“I haven’t ruled it out,” the Minnesota Democrat said.
“I think there are people who are more proximate, better prepared to campaign with national organizations, national name recognition, which I do not possess,” Phillips added, according to Fox News. “I’m concerned that there is no alternative.”
He said it is “important for democracy to have choices, to have competition, particularly in light of what I’m reading — the polling, the data — and what I’m sensing in my own intuition, and I’m concerned.”
He said in August during an episode of “Meet the Press” that he “adores” Biden but believes it is time to “pass the torch” to new leaders.
“I would like to see a moderate governor, hopefully from the heartland, from one of the four states that Democrats will need,” he said.
“Anybody who wants to run, Joe Manchin, Cornel West … that’s why we have primaries because that doesn’t undermine the likelihood of returning, in this case, a Democrat to the White House. I’m actively inviting, encouraging to some degree, imploring that people who are ready and know it’s probably time to do so take the chance,” he said.
Phillips told the podcast that he is “concerned that something could happen between now and next November that would make the Democratic Convention in Chicago an unmitigated disaster,” a reference, likely to Biden’s age — 81 — and his demonstrated mental decline.
“And for a party that is acting as the adults in the room, thank goodness, I’m concerned that we are not as it relates to our electoral strategy,” Phillips added. “So, I’m considering it.”
“I do still think there’s some time for somebody to enter. I’m still encouraging others who I think are better prepared right now to run a great campaign,” he said.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump’s polling numbers continue to improve after his latest indictments, and at the expense of his likely 2024 opponent, Biden.
Trump is moving past Biden in several key swing states, according to a new survey.
“The states that had the narrowest margin of victory for either candidate last cycle were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with Biden winning all but North Carolina,” The Daily Caller reported. “Across those key swing states, Trump is ahead of Biden 41% to 35%, and 24% of voters remain undecided, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.”
“Among independent voters, the former president also held a slight advantage over Biden, according to the poll. Trump received 32% support among independents compared to Biden’s 30%, and 38% were undecided. Uncertain voters favored Biden over Trump at 49% to 38%,” the report added.
In a theoretical face-off for the 2024 election, Biden and Trump are deadlocked at 39%, as indicated by the survey. A large number of voters expressed worries about the president’s age, alongside concerns related to the economy and crime, the survey noted.
A significant majority of voters, reaching 77%, including 65% of Democrats, believe that Biden is too old for another term, and only 39% believe he possesses sufficient mental sharpness for the job, as per the poll. Nearly 90% of those surveyed indicated that crime would heavily influence their voting choice, and 73% expressed the view that the economy is either the same as or worse than it was before the pandemic.
