House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) refused to say whether President Joe Biden should run for reelection at a Wednesday press briefing with reporters, becoming just the latest high-profile Democrat to stoke speculation that the president might forgo seeking a second term in the White House.
Asked if Biden should run again at his weekly “Pen and Pad” press availability, the second-ranking House Democrat told reporters he didn’t think answering would be “timely” and called discussions surrounding the 79-year-old president’s political future “not productive.”
Hoyer, asked by @nataliewsj if Biden should campaign with Dems during the August recess. “Absolutely,” he says.
She follows up on asking whether Biden should run again: “I don’t think it’s timely and getting into this game…is not productive.”
— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) July 27, 2022
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Hoyer’s comments came just one day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also declined to say whether Biden should seek reelection. Schumer qualified his support for the president’s yet-announced bid to seek another term, telling reporters that Biden would have his backing “if he runs.” And Vice President Kamala Harris made a similarly eyebrow-raising declaration late last month, saying, “The president intends to run, and if he does,” she would stay on as his running mate.
Hoyer later sought to clarify his remarks, issuing a statement to the Washington Examiner pledging to support the president in 2024.
“President Biden is a good friend, and I have been proud to work alongside him to deliver For The People. I will proudly support him for President in 2024, and look forward to campaigning alongside him,” Hoyer said Wednesday evening. Biden and Hoyer were members of Congress together for nearly 28 years. Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972 and stayed for 36 years before becoming former President Barack Obama’s vice president. Hoyer, meanwhile, was elected to the House in a May 1981 special election.
Wavering commitment to another White House run by the president comes as polls show that a majority of Democrats want their party to nominate a different candidate in 2024. A CNN poll released on Tuesday found that 3 in 4 Democrats want Biden to forgo another term and that among Democratic voters under age 45, just 18% want him to run again. And Biden’s cratering approval ratings continue to pose a problem — according to RealClearPolitics, the president’s polling average is just under 38%, and some polls have his approval rating as low as 29%.
Democrats’ skepticism of the president has spread beyond the grassroots, with Democratic candidates in tough races notably refusing to express support for the president or calling on him to bow out of 2024 altogether. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), his party’s nominee for Senate in the Buckeye State, declined to say whether he would back a reelection bid by Biden, claiming in a Fox News interview that he was focused on his own election. Ryan also refused to appear alongside Biden earlier this month when the president traveled to Ohio. And former Rep. Joe Cunningham, Democrats’ nominee for governor in South Carolina, went so far as to say that the president should “step aside and allow for a new generation of leadership.”
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Sensing an opportunity, some would-be Democratic presidential candidates have attempted to increase their profiles and introduce themselves to voters in the event that Biden decides against running for reelection. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been frequently mentioned in the media as possible replacements for Biden and have attracted early interest from Democratic donors, but both have said that they won’t challenge the president if he decides to run again. Harris has also been seen as a likely contender, and a poll released this week showed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leading Biden among likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire, a key early primary contest.
