That hasn’t stopped quiet concerns swirling in the West Wing, according to four aides familiar with the talks, that one may still emerge ahead of the president’s planned formal re-election campaign in the spring of 2023. Biden advisers expect to insist on that no matter what happens, including if Trump decides to move early. “Nothing about our timeline is changing, but we are prepared if he decides to run,” a person familiar with the Biden team’s political planning said of Trump. But even Rep. Ro Khanna, the California congressman and former Bernie Sanders campaign co-chairman who first won his seat by defeating an incumbent in a primary, said he wouldn’t entertain the thought of jumping against Biden. though he knows he does He was whispered about — so much so that a close friend had a dream over the 4th of July weekend that he did. “Absolutely not,” Khanna told CNN. “I’m going to support (Biden) because of the danger that Donald Trump poses. I certainly wouldn’t do anything to weaken him and I hope nobody else will do anything to weaken him. He’s still the safe brand in the Midwest make sure Trump is kept out of the Oval Office.” That’s also true of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has drawn the most whispers since the Biden orbit with his comments suggesting a lack of action and energy on the part of Democrats and the purchase of a July 4 ad in Florida bashing Gov. Ron DeSandis . 2024 GOP candidate. Newsom, who is up for re-election in November, compared the Democratic dynamic to those he initially faced in his recall election last year, when he and his advisers worked to scare away several Democrats who were looking to jump against of. “Our recall success was about unifying our party and defining the opposition. We need to unite the Democratic Party, not destroy ourselves from within,” Newsom said. “We have to have our President’s back. But we also have to get out on the field. He needs troops. He has to govern. Our job is to organize and have his back.” So did JB Pritzker, the billionaire first-time governor of Illinois, who also delivered a speech from Biden’s world backstage, delivering a speech about his exhaustion with the Democratic status quo in the famously presidential state of New Hampshire. The Democrat, who is running for a second term in November, fueled even more speculation with his response to the Highland Park shooting in his home state earlier this month, which was more forceful than Biden’s. Biden “has said he’s running for re-election and I support that,” Pritzker told CNN, adding that while he believes another challenger may emerge, Biden “will win the nomination and yet, it will be Ted Kennedy who he’s going to run against Jimmy Carter. … They’re going to lose and they’re going to take from the President. That’s not what we need right now.” Speculation is at a high enough fever pitch that when Pete Buttigieg’s PAC reactivated Twitter in late June to endorse some candidates for the U.S. House and Legislature, several affiliated operatives began to wonder if this was the first step in moving the secretary who returns as a candidate. His attendance at Democratic National Committee events and meetings with some potential future donors generated more discussion. But there’s nothing to it, according to a Department of Transportation spokesman, who said, “Buttigieg has had no involvement with the Win the Era PAC since he was appointed Secretary. He is 100 percent focused on his work at DOT, including implementation of President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law.” Some have spoken about Jared Polis, the Colorado governor known for breaking away from what has become Democratic orthodoxy on Covid-19 lockdowns and facing voters this fall. He has a personal fortune, several operatives noted, and while not enough to fund himself, enough to possibly launch a campaign and feel confident he won’t have to worry about jeopardizing future job prospects. Polis campaign spokeswoman Amber Miller said he “isn’t thinking about it and is focused on running the state of Colorado. If re-elected, he plans to serve his full term as governor of Colorado.” Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly said that Biden intends to run and that she will be his running mate, and no one around her or anywhere else believes she would be able to launch a campaign that began with a rift with him. Sanders, the Vermont senator who has twice sought the Democratic nod, told CNN last month that he would not run against Biden. A spokesman for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, told CNN that nothing has changed since the Massachusetts Democrat told NBC News that she would not run for president in 2024 and would support Biden. Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ top political adviser and former campaign manager, said trying to run by appealing to the wing of his party “would be an almost insurmountable climb to the top of that mountain, given that Bernie he said it would be by supporting Joe Biden if he runs for re-election.” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated a member of the House Democratic leadership to enter Congress, told late-night host Stephen Colbert in late June that she was more focused on preserving American democracy than on presidential speculation. . However, he stopped short of saying he would support Biden for re-election, noting that the President has not said he is running himself. Asked by CNN if that left her open to considering running a young, progressive primary against him, a representative for the congresswoman did not respond to requests for comment.
Dealing with a “soft” primate
Carter-Kennedy is not the only historical example on the minds of Democrats. There’s Ronald Reagan’s terrifying 1976 campaign against Republican President Gerald Ford, which helped pave the way for Carter’s victory. Or George HW Bush never quite recovering from Pat Buchanan’s 1992 primary campaign, which hurt him with the GOP base heading into the general election.
However, several senior Democrats cited 1968, when President Lyndon Johnson faced a primary challenge from Eugene McCarthy. Eventually, other candidates joined, leading the President to withdraw in March from his re-election bid.
Officials around a number of presidential contenders argue that Biden already faces a “mild” primary challenge from several directions. The goal, they say, is not to challenge Biden, but rather to tacitly reassure the President that Democrats have other good options in the next generation or two and that he should be comfortable passing the torch to them.
The other goal is for Democrats to be as prepared as possible, with the possibility that Biden might delay his decision to run for re-election and then change his mind so late in the presidential cycle that other candidates struggle to launch campaigns and raise money.
Despite the liberal media attention that would come from declaring an anti-Biden primary, no one seems willing to underestimate the hole in the party for Republicans to return to — especially at a time when apocalyptic sentiment is so high. This also applies to future aspirations: These would-be candidates know that Democratic voters would never forgive a spoiler.
“It’s about having his back, not taking back some wing of the party,” Newsom said. “It is for each of us who disuse ourselves that we have the luxury of division from within.”
“I think there will be plenty of time after Donald Trump to discuss the future of the Democratic Party,” Hanna said. “For people who have future aspirations, they would rather run in a post-Donald Trump and Joe Biden world.”
Barack Obama faced a flurry of primary speculation at about this point before his own re-election campaign 12 years ago — to the point where Gallup tested how well he’d do if Hillary Clinton ran against him and Sanders started hanging around in New Hampshire for jumping against him.
Many of the Democratic leaders, operatives and donors who spoke to CNN about those talks insist that it is precisely their fear of Trump beating Biden that is prompting them to toss around potential other options.
Not only does Biden now have lower approval ratings than nearly every Democratic governor and senator on the ballot in November, but several internal polls have shown him running against Trump in battleground states.
Asked if he understood what was creating the talk of a primary challenge he believes may yet emerge, Pritzker paused. First, he reiterated his support for Biden. He then repeated his call for more energy and action, without specifically mentioning the President.
“We absolutely need to be stronger and stronger in our condemnation of the right wing and what they stand for, and to stand up for the freedoms of women and those on the margins,” Pritzker said. “There’s a noticeable shift in attitude among Democrats.”
Pushing back to the push
Before he launched his 2020 campaign, Biden’s advisers had bounced around the idea of a one-year pledge as a way to address questions about his age. Biden dismissed the idea, saying he could never do anything as an immediate lame duck. He has made similar comments about what would happen to his power domestically and on the world stage if he announced he would not run for re-election. Few around Biden see that changing. Some even suggested that a primary challenger could unwittingly help him recover from approval numbers stuck below 40% by giving him a foil. If this challenge came from the left and allowed him to argue, he didn’t…
