An Arizona Democrat failed to give a direct answer on if President Joe Biden should run for reelection, joining a growing list of party members who have not directly supported the president for 2024.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) appeared in a television interview in which he discussed his election race against Republican nominee Blake Masters as well as Biden’s performance as president. When asked if he would support Biden in a 2024 reelection campaign, Kelly seemed to dodge the question, according to Arizona’s Family.
DEMOCRAT REFUSES TO DEBATE TRUMP-BACKED KARI LAKE IN ARIZONA GOVERNOR RACE
“Hey, it’s not my job to decide whether or not he should run,” Kelly said. “If he runs, I’ll support him.”
Look at Mark Kelly squirm when asked if Biden is doing a good job.
“Hey, I th-, you know, I, uh, you know, I, it, first of all” ?
Senator: Biden’s record is YOUR record. Can’t hide from that now pic.twitter.com/spZa0ioEKU
— Blake Masters (@bgmasters) September 12, 2022
Kelly also did not say if he would want to campaign with Biden at an event in Arizona, saying he “could be in Washington voting on important legislation” and that it would “depend on what the event was.”
The Arizona Democrat was also asked what he thought of Biden’s job performance, to which he responded by saying it’s “not my job” to give the president a report card. While Kelly had “issues” with how Biden handled the United States’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, he also praised the president’s response to the war in Ukraine and the support the country has given.
Kelly’s remarks on Biden put him on a growing list of Democrats who are not in direct support of the president should he run for reelection, which includes other undecided party members such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), and David Axelrod, an adviser to former President Barack Obama.
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Democrats who have said they would support a Biden 2024 campaign if the president ran include Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), while those who are against it include Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Angie Craig (D-MN).
Several Democrats have seemed to distance themselves from Biden ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Wisconsin Senate candidate Mandela Barnes was absent from a Labor Day event in Milwaukee that Biden attended and instead participated in a labor parade and met with striking factory workers in Racine, Wisconsin. In Ohio, Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic Senate nominee, said he would attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a semiconductor factory with the president even though he had previously indicated he did not want to campaign with Biden.
