These Democrats are dodging questions about Biden 2024 run

President Biden has insisted he will run for reelection in 2024, but not every Democrat is clamoring to support a reelection campaign.

As Biden’s approval ratings have hovered consistently low — and with the president set to turn 80 in November — many in his party have questioned if he is the best choice to run. 

Big name Democratic politicians have not come out against Biden running for office again, but many have withheld public backing. 

Here are the Democrats who have been dodging questions about Biden’s 2024 run or not embracing the idea enthusiastically: 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

Ocasio-Cortez declined back in June to say if she would be endorsing Biden in 2024. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” the progressive lawmaker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“But I think if the president has a vision, and that’s something certainly we’re all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes,” she added.

When pressed on the matter, Ocasio-Cortez said she is focusing on the 2022 midterm elections. 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)

At the end of July, Manchin, one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, would not say if he would throw his support behind Biden in two years. 

“I’m not going, I’m not getting into 2022 or 2024,” Manchin said on ABC’s “This Week. “Whoever is my president, that’s my president. And Joe Biden is my president right now.”

Manchin’s swing vote in the 50-50 upper chamber has on several occasions made it difficult for Biden and the Democrats to get key parts of their agenda passed into law. 

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) 

Bush refused to answer a question on whether she would support Biden in the White House in 2024. 

“I don’t want to answer that question because we have not, that’s not, yeah, I don’t want to answer that question,” the first-term liberal said. “I mean, he’s the president, and he has the right to run for a second term, absolutely, but I don’t want to, I’d rather you not do that, ask that question.”

Bush declined to answer that question in July as rumors swirled of who might run against Biden in a primary. 

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) 

Craig as recently as this week would not clarify whether Biden would have her support for reelection. 

“I would say we need new leaders in Washington up and down the ballot in the Democratic Party,” Craig said in an interview.

She did not, however, go as far as a fellow Minnesota Democrat, Rep. Dean Phillips, who said he doesn’t support Biden running in 2024.

“I think the country would be well-served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats who step up,” Phillips said. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.)

Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, would not say during a Tuesday debate if he would be supporting Biden in 2024. 

“Too early to say. Doesn’t serve the purpose of the Democratic Party to deal with that until after the midterms,” Nadler stated. 

---

2024 Election Coverage

---

Nadler’s post-redistricting primary opponent, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, also refrained from endorsing Biden’s reelection during Tuesday’s debate.

Maloney has since walked back her comments and said she would be supporting the president in 2024. 

“Mr. President, I apologize. I want you to run. I happen to think you won’t be running, but when you run or if you run, I will be there 100 percent,” Maloney said Thursday while looking into the camera on CNN’s “New Day.”