The progressive Democrat group RootsAction launched its “Don’t Run Joe” campaign on Wednesday, urging the Democratic Party not to nominate President Joe Biden for reelection in 2024.
The “Don’t Run Joe” campaign launch comes one day after the midterm elections, in which Democrats performed better than expected. RootsAction urges Democrats not to make the “tragic mistake” of rerunning Biden in 2024, whose presidency they describe as being “neither bold nor inspiring.”
The group said in a press release:
The threat of a neofascist GOP has become all too obvious. Bold and inspiring leadership from the Oval Office will be essential.
Unfortunately, President Biden has been neither bold nor inspiring. And his prospects for winning re-election appear to be bleak. With so much at stake, making him the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer in 2024 would be a tragic mistake.
The Vermont-based group would rather see the Democrats run a candidate who advances a “truly progressive agenda.”
However, Biden has consistently indicated throughout the first two years of his presidency his intent to run for reelection.
On Wednesday, the same day the “Don’t Run Joe” campaign launched, Biden again signaled he would run for reelection. When reporters questioned Biden about exit polls that found a majority of voters did not want to see him run for reelection, Biden told reporters, “watch me” and added that the polls would not impact his decision.
Reporter: "Two-thirds of Americans say that they don't think you should run for reelection. How does that factor into your decision ?"
Joe Biden: "It doesn't."
Reporter: "What's your message to them?"
Joe Biden: "Watch me." pic.twitter.com/v5Bl0TCxnj
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) November 9, 2022
A CBS exit poll from Tuesday’s midterms found that 66 percent of voters do not want Biden to run for president again.
Still, Biden said he plans to run again and would talk with first lady Jill Biden about his decision over the holidays, with an official announcement to come “early next year.”
Adding to Biden’s woes is his increasing unpopularity among college-aged Democrats, a key voting bloc for his party.
An August poll found that 73 percent of college Democrats do not want to see Biden run again.
At 79, Biden became the oldest presidential candidate elected to the nation’s highest office in November 2020. Should he run for office next presidential cycle, Election Day 2024 would come roughly two weeks before Biden’s 82nd birthday.
If he does run for reelection, Biden could face a rematch against former President Donald Trump, who recently signaled he would announce a third bid for the White House during his final “Save America” rally of the midterm cycle.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of the campaign of Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance at Wright Bros. Aero Inc. at Dayton International Airport on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, in Vandalia. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
“But not to detract from tomorrow’s very important, even critical election, and I would say in the strongest way it’s a country-saving election specifically including the election of all the people that I’m going to name,” Trump told the Ohio crowd.
“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” he said as the crowd cheered.
Biden would likely face an uphill battle in a rematch against Trump, as recent polls of a hypothetical 2020 presidential rematch found that Trump is ahead of Biden.
