Should Biden Run Again in 2024?
Man, I don’t know.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t want Biden to run for president in the first place. In the wake of Trump’s election, there was so much widespread civic engagement, so much energy in left-wing politics, and I was hoping that we’d be able to harness that energy and engagement into raising up a new generation into government and the presidency. With so many people ready to volunteer in a presidential election for the first time, it felt like we finally had a chance to elect someone who hadn’t been in politics for longer than I’ve been alive, or heaven forfend, someone who wasn’t a straight white dude. My entire philosophy in 2019 and 2020 was “anyone can beat Trump if we all work hard enough.”
And yet, I have been quite pleasantly surprised by the Biden presidency. Of course with razor thin majorities in the Senate and the House we weren’t able to accomplish as much as many us might have hoped. But given those majorities, what we have seen in the past few years has been remarkably impressive - the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States, major investments in infrastructure and addressing climate change (very important for my niche anxieties about tunnels collapsing and mild winters), executive actions to protect renters, student loan forgiveness, insulin capped at $35/month for those on Medicare, strengthening American manufacturing, the most significant gun control legislation in 30 years, the list goes on and on.
And let’s be fair, the odds were not in our favor. On the Democratic side we have two Senators who seem to care more about Senate rules and their rich donors than they do about democracy, the quality of life of their constituents, or the health of the planet at large. On the Republican side, well, whatever insanity led to Trump’s election pales in comparison to the coup-attempting, race-baiting, outright lying plaguing Republicans currently in the federal government.
At the State of the Union last week, Biden made the case for his own reelection. Not just through his “Finish the job” refrain, which acknowledges that there is quite a bit left to do in the face of Republican assaults on freedom and democracy, and the economic interventions needed to support all of us, not just the super wealthy. But Biden also made the case through his own agility and energy. The back and forth with Republicans hecklers about Social Security and Medicare highlighted both the political toxicity of cutting those programs and Biden’s ability to back them into a corner on the fly. It was the rare fun-to-watch State of the Union, in addition to being an interesting and effective outline for an American agenda that would actually help people.
Does it sound like I think he should run again? Probably. Our political system is biased in favor of incumbents. And given the state of the Republican party at the moment, there is no version of a Republican victory that wouldn’t be incredibly chaotic, destructive, bigoted and even violent. Still, there was some rather nerve wracking polling recently that suggested that a majority of voters do not want Biden to run again. Biden is 80 and will be 86 by the end of his second term. And as we are besieged by crises from every direction, from a onslaught of anti-trans legislation that harms children and adults alike to climate change hitting us faster and harder than predicted, to abortion bans and police violence and global instability and price gouging, my heart yearns for a fight that I just don’t think our unity president is going to give us. It's hard to scroll twitter every day, to see the pain and anger that’s out there and not feel like we’re missing something.
So, should Biden run again?
I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know this. I know that even though the Freedom to Vote Act didn’t pass, a full throated national push for it took us from some nebulous uncertain minority ready to abolish the filibuster for voting rights to 48 Democratic Senators with votes on the record. I know that no matter how many times Senators Manchin and Sinema tried to kill the Build Back Better agenda, we came back harder and stronger and we pushed Congress to pass and Biden to sign the largest investment in addressing climate change in history. Our organizing pushed Biden to forgive $10k for millions of student loan borrowers, and when Republicans had the White House, the House and the Senate, our organizing saved health care.
I know we have a lot more work to do. We have to pass the Equality Act, which would protect people against discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We have to address our immigration system, to protect people seeking asylum and grant a pathway to citizenship for undocumented Americans. We still need paid leave, child care, and to bring back permanently the child tax credit. We need to save the planet.
So much of the question of who should run for president these days is tied up in fear. If Biden runs, can he win? Can he beat Trump again? Can he beat someone other than Trump?1 If Biden runs again will he keep fighting for us? If he doesn’t run again, will the next person?
I still don’t know. But I do know that no matter who runs for president we’ll keep fighting. I do know that we’ve done more with less. I know that there are state laws to pass or kill, city councils deciding police budgets that need us to push them towards social services and away from more guns on the street. I know that Biden didn’t win in 2020 all on his own, and that whoever comes next, whether it’s in 2024 or 2028 will need us to show up, not just to volunteer, but to push them and this country in the direction that leads us all to be happier, healthier, and safer. I know that it feels sometimes like our destiny is in the hands of those with the most fame and the most power. But I also know that there are more of us, and when we show up we can do things never before seen.
Two things you can do this week to make that happen:
Sign up for deep canvassing training - learn how to have really deep and impactful conversations with people on important issues.
Call your Representative and Senators and ask them to pass the Equality Act. With Republicans in charge of the House it is unlikely that this does pass, but a) unlikely doesn’t mean impossible and b) it’s important to remind elected officials that we are not letting this one go. Here’s a guide to calling.