According to the Western Journal, Norman Solomon, founder of the progressive network RootsAction said, “Unless Biden comes to his senses and announces that he won’t run again, a contentious battle for the nomination seems very likely.” That prediction is on its way to coming true as the first official Democratic challenger for the 2024 presidential election announced his candidacy on Monday.
Jerome Segal announced he will challenge Biden in the next election. Many view Segal’s announcement as a signal from the DNC that Biden must go rather than be granted a serious bid for the highest office in the land.
Newsweek presented Segal in a rather unflattering light, noting that he “placed ninth among 10 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in Maryland” and received approximately 1 percent of the vote.
Noting that it is common to announce an intent to run after the midterm elections, Segal told Newsweek:
“I was planning to delay the announcement of my candidacy until after the mid-term elections. My decision to go public right now was triggered by Joe Biden’s embarrassing trip to the Middle East.”
The Western Journal noted that Segal “founded the socialist Bread and Roses party,” and sharply “criticized Biden for ‘fist bump[ing] a psychopathic killer’ in reference to Biden’s controversial greeting to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman earlier this month.”
Many believe Joe Biden, 79, suffers from cognitive impairment and, due to abysmal favorability ratings, is pulling down the party and should not run for a second term.
Biden has stated he will run in 2024 with Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Harris has left open the possibility of Biden stepping aside, saying in late June that she will run as Biden’s running mate “if he decides to run.”
Political pundits speculate that if Biden does not run, Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar will likely enter the race.
Pressure is mounting for Biden to make an announcement before the midterms. The DNC seems to be in need of a reboot, illustrated by a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that found only 26 percent of Democrats want Biden to run in 2024.
The poll also found that 94 percent of voters under 30 want a candidate other than Biden.
Norman Solomon told Newsweek:
“The president may not realize or care that the trajectory of his policies has been taking him farther and farther from the Democratic Party base, but his distance from that base would likely be catastrophic for Biden if he tries to get nominated again.
“The tone-deaf and self-centered thing for him to do would be to soldier on, insisting that he should be president until January 2029, while damaging the party’s prospects in the process.”