Democrats are starting to come to grips with the reality that the overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrat voters, don’t believe Joe Biden is fit for office.
But rather than address the issue, most Democrats are simply melting down in fear.
And all hell broke loose inside the Biden White House after this Democrat Congressman made one jaw-dropping admission about the 2024 Presidential race.
The pressure is mounting for Democrats
There has been ample speculation from all sides of the political spectrum over whether or not Democrats will actually stick with President Joe Biden as the Party’s 2024 nominee.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the heir to the Kennedy political dynasty, and Marianne Williamson, a so-called “self-help guru,” are already challenging Biden in the Democrat Presidential Primary.
California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom has also been mentioned as a candidate who could potentially throw his hat in the ring as well. Still, the Governor has repeatedly claimed to have no interest in running in 2024 if Biden is running.
Of course, that calculation would obviously very quickly change for Newsom in the event President Biden has some sort of major issue or outright pulls out of the race, and the same is undoubtedly true of Vice President Kamala Harris, who would obviously also jump at the chance to replace the President should the need arise.
But despite all the speculation – and the fact that polls show a majority of Democrats want someone else to be the Party’s nominee – national Democrats have, at least thus far, mainly presented a united front of staying the course with Biden until the proverbial wheels fall off.
That united front, however, has begun to show cracks as the 2024 election draws near, with The Washington Post‘s David Ignatius recently penning maybe the most pointed call for Biden to step aside from a Democrat yet.
“I don’t think Biden and Vice President Harris should run for reelection,” Ignatius wrote. “It’s painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have accomplished,” Ignatius continued. “But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement — which was stopping Trump.”
And now, one Democrat Congressman has reversed course from his prior denial to fully admit that he is considering challenging President Biden for that exact reason.
“I’m considering it”
Roughly one month ago, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) told The Minnesota Star Tribune that running for President in 2024 was “not something as of today that I see happening for a number of reasons.”
“Setting up a competitive campaign, the infrastructure, the people, the systems in multi states, requires a tremendous amount of effort and time, and there are people who have laid that groundwork. I’m not one of them,” the Democrat Congressman added. “Perhaps in the future.”
But that future has apparently come much quicker than he anticipated, as he’s grown increasingly concerned with Biden’s electability and the lack of a clear alternative to him as the election has drawn closer.
“It’s 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,” Phillips explained. “I’m concerned that there is no alternative. I’m concerned that something could happen between now and next November that would make the Democratic Convention in Chicago an unmitigated disaster. 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.”
“So, I’m considering it,” he added of challenging Biden in the 2024 Democrat Primary.
Phillips went on to concede that there may be other Democrat candidates “better prepared” to challenge Biden from a name recognition and political operations standpoint and said he has been encouraging them to run.
Politico reported at the end of July that many Democrats seeking a Biden alternative were inquiring with the Minnesota Democrat about his willingness to step into such a role.
He even met with Democrat donors about the possibility of a Presidential campaign in New York City around the first week of August.
“Nobody wants to be the one to do something that would undermine the chances of a Democratic victory in 2024,” Phillips previously told Politico. “Yet in quiet rooms, the conversation is just the opposite — we could be at a higher risk if this path is cleared.”
Only time will tell what Dean Phillips and other Democrats hungry for an alternative to Joe Biden will ultimately decide to do about the 2024 election.
But it certainly seems like the political winds are shifting, and Democrats may very well be staring down the barrel at a more contested Primary than expected.
