Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) says he will not run another campaign for president in the 2024 cycle and will instead support President Joe Biden‘s re-election effort.
“I’m in to do what I can to make sure that the president is re-elected,” Sanders told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, ran as a candidate in the Democratic Party’s last two presidential primary contests, giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money in 2016 right up until the convention and bowing out to Biden after he failed to gain similar momentum in 2020.
The senator publicly eschewed a third run in a row hours after Biden formally announced his re-election campaign.
“Running for president was a wonderful privilege,” Sanders said. “I enjoyed it very much and I hope we had some impact on the nature of American politics. But right now, my job is to do what I can as chairman of the (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) committee, to see Biden get reelected and to see what I can do to help transform policy in America to help protect the needs of workers.”
So far, Biden faces declared candidates in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and self-help author Marianne Williamson, both of whom have been calling foul over the absence of planned debates and the Democratic National Committee choosing to fiddle with the nominating state schedule.
Sanders expressed the view that the challengers won’t be able to overcome the incumbent.
“I think Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee,” Sanders said. “And my job, and I think the progressive movement’s job, is to make certain that he stands up and fights for the working class of this country and does not take anything for granted.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
Already the oldest person to be president at 80, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term. Sanders is a bit older, at 81. He suffered a heart attack the last time he ran for president.
A mere 26% of Americans and 47% of Democrats want Biden to run again, according to a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. The same poll found 78% of Democrats say they approve of Biden’s job performance, and 81% said they would at least probably support Biden if he becomes the nominee in the general election.
On the Republican side, 76-year-old former President Donald Trump is seeking re-election and is generally leading GOP primary polls by wide margins.
Facing the prospect of a 2020 general election rematch, Sanders warned Trump being re-elected to office would be detrimental to the United States.
“The last thing this country needs is a Donald Trump or some other right-wing demagogue who is going to try to undermine American democracy or take away a woman’s right to choose, or not address the crisis of gun violence, or racism, sexism or homophobia,” he said.