Top Democrats are reportedly reaching out to rising stars in the party and are telling them that President Joe Biden is not running for re-election.
CNN reported that the “top Democrats and donors” have reached out to “possible replacements” for Biden and had conversations about them getting in the race as Biden struggles in the White House.
Numerous polls have shown Biden struggles against the top two Republican Party presidential candidates—former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Those who are placing the calls to the prospective Democrat candidates are telling them that despite what 80-year-old Biden has said, and despite launching his campaign, he actually will not run for president.
Biden’s team pushed back, saying that he was absolutely running and that he was taking campaign preparations seriously.
The Democrat who has seemingly tried to raise their national profile in recent months as Biden stumbles, both literally and figuratively, is California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Newsom, 55, has repeatedly taken shots at DeSantis, was recently featured in a Fox News special interview with host Sean Hannity, has spent millions left over from his 2022 gubernatorial campaign to boost fellow Democrats for 2024, and will visit red states in an attempt to help boost turnout for Democrats.
Those who CNN spoke with, who also included numerous senior Democrat advisers, said that they are concerned about the slow pace of Biden’s campaign.
What Democrats who are still behind Biden are banking on is that voters will be motivated more by their hatred of Trump than their love of Biden, according to well-known Democrat strategist Lis Smith. “A lot of enthusiasm will come for voting against Republicans,” she said.
Exit polling from Morning Consult, an organization that the Trump campaign regularly touts, found that in the 2020 presidential election, of those who voted Biden, 44% did so as a vote against Trump. Of those who voted Trump, only 22% did so as a vote against Biden.
