Democrat Lawmaker Says ‘Majority’ of Americans Want Joe Biden to Skip 2024 Reelection

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) questions witnesses during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 16, 2020. Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the majority of Americans are ready to “turn the page” and asked President Joe Biden not to seek reelection while calling on Democrat governors to step up to bat.

“The call to action is to ask the president to pass the torch,” he said Sunday, emphasizing that he was not critical of President Biden and thought he had left an “extraordinary legacy.”

“I’m representing what I believe to be the majority of the country that wants to turn the page,” he said.

“I hear from way too many people—the news was that I was meeting with donors but the fact is I listen to normal Americans every day,” Mr. Phillips said. “It’s about how people feel. people want to turn the page.”

He cited recent polling and said “Joe Biden is down 7 points in four swing states that will decide the next election. He has historically low approval numbers.” In various polls, the number of Democrats who have said they want President Biden to step aside ranges from 40 to 75 percent.

As of Monday, President Biden’s approval rating average sat at 41.1 percent approval versus 54.2 percent disapproval, with little change over the last month.

There has been speculation Mr. Phillips is interested in the seat himself, but he has not committed to run.

Challengers Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williams have already declared their intention to run, but they were not on the list of those Mr. Phillips believed had a chance.

“There is an extraordinary bench of people ready to go” who have a chance of winning against them and President Biden, Mr. Phillips said, and he believed Democrats had the best chance of securing the oval office with a governor from a swing state.

Swing State Support

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she won’t be running for president, though many have encouraged her to do so.

Ms. Whitmer, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker are all viable candidates, according to Mr. Phillips, plus several more who have talked to donors and considered running but are afraid to join the primaries.

“I would like to see a moderate governor, hopefully from the heartland, from one of the four states that Democrats will need,” he said.

“Some people asked me that I not use their names because this institutional fear that it might impact you down the road,” he said, criticizing Washington’s institutionalized protection of the “status quo.”

“I’m doing something that I know is unpopular as a Democrat, but I’m speaking truth,” he said.

Asked why so many of these conversations are only happening in private, whether in polling or donor conversations, Mr. Phillips said “people are focused on self preservation and not principle.”

Mr. Phillips added that this was not about President Biden’s age, and that he did not support a third party bid.

“I want anyone who wants to run—Joe Manchin, Cornell West, any of the governors—to run in the primary. That’s why we have the primaries. That doesn’t undermine the likelihood of returning, in this case, a Democrat to the White House,” he said. “This is an appeal to everyone of good conscious and good character.”

Third Party Bid

Democrats have opposed the idea of a third party bid, saying it will only split the Democrat vote and hand an easy victory to the GOP frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.

In Arizona, where the independent No Labels Party has made it onto the primary ballot, the Democratic Party sued to prevent it from doing so, but the challenge was rejected by a judge.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has appeared at No Labels events and announced fundraising numbers, but has not made an official statement that he is making a third party bid for the presidency. He has not announced whether he will run for reelection of his Senate seat either.

On Aug. 10, he said on MetroTalk that he had been thinking about leaving the Democratic Party for “quite some time” and “would think very seriously about that.” He had previously refuted claims that he was thinking of leaving the party.

“I want to make sure my voice is truly an independent voice, when I’m speaking I’m speaking about the good the Republicans do and the good the Democrats continue to do,” he said.

“For me, I have to have peace of mind basically,” he said. “The brand has become so bad. The ‘D’ brand and ‘R’ brand. In West Virginia, the ‘D’ brand because it’s nationally bad. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia. It’s the Democrats in Washington or the Washington policies of the Democrats. You’ve heard me say a million times that I’m not a Washington Democrat.”