President Joe Biden is spending Thanksgiving weekend “celebrating” with loved ones, he said Saturday, ignoring shouted questions from reporters about the status of holiday discussions about his potential 2024 re-election bid.
The 46th president told reporters after the midterm elections that it was his intention to seek a second term and he planned to discuss the matter with family over the holidays. The Biden clan is celebrating Thanksgiving in Nantucket, Massachusetts, at the home of David Rubenstein, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist who founded The Carlyle Group. The family has had a tradition of spending the holiday on the upscale island since the 1970s.
WHITE HOUSE MUM ON WHETHER BIDEN REELECTION DISCUSSION ON THANKSGIVING MENU
Asked how re-election talks were going while walking with First Lady Jill Biden on Nantucket’s Main Street Saturday, the president replied: “We’re not having any, we’re celebrating.”
Biden was later asked by the Daily Mail if he had made a decision about running for re-election, to which he responded: “Not yet.”
Joining the first couple for the holiday weekend are Ashley and Hunter Biden, along with his wife Melissa Cohen Biden and their 2-year-old son Beau.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was similarly tight-lipped when asked during a briefing Tuesday if the Biden family would be discussing 2024 plans over Thanksgiving, responding that, “He’s going to have a private conversation with his family. I am certainly not going to lay out what that conversation could look like or potentially be.”
While speaking at a press conference after Democrats dodged a “red wave” in the midterms, Biden said: “My intention is that I run again, but I’m a great respecter of fate. And this is, ultimately, a family decision. I think everybody wants me to run, but … we’re going to have discussions about it. And I don’t feel any hurry one way or another to make that judgment today, tomorrow, whenever, no matter what my predecessor does.”
The 46th president added that he expected to make a final decision on running “early next year.”
Biden is the country’s oldest-ever president, becoming the first-ever octogenarian commander-in-chief last Sunday.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Democrats and Republicans alike have raised concerns for years about Biden’s age, and even following Democrats’ surprise performance in November’s midterms, a majority of voters have expressed a desire for new candidates atop the tickets for both parties. Still, the president has the wind at his back due to the midterm results, making any concerns he could have felt about dragging down his party while seeking a second term moot.
The timing of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 White House campaign launch, coming just days after Republicans’ disappointing midterms performance, also caused pundits on both sides of the aisle to label him as a weakened candidate. Some observers have noted, however, that Trump would have further diminished his political standing by delaying his campaign launch.
