Sen. Sanders Floats 2024 Run If Biden Doesn’t

Since presidential elections these days apparently begin the day after the midterms, journalists have already been asking around to find out which of the usual suspects is willing to toss their hat in the ring for a White House bid in 2024. The only Republican we know of who is definitely in the mix thus far is Donald Trump, but it’s a fair bet that Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley (among others) are seriously considering it. The Democrats are in a bit more of a sticky situation because nobody really wants to step forward until Joe Biden announces his own decision next month. One familiar face who will reportedly be “taking a hard look” at the possibility is Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders. He’s been to the show twice already, but one of his closest aides told CBS News this week that he will be considering it if it’s an open field. (NY Post)

Sen. Bernie Sanders would presumably take “a hard look” at launching a 2024 White House bid if President Biden decides not to seek reelection, a top adviser to the 81-year-old socialist said.

“I assume that he would give it a hard look,” Sanders adviser Faiz Shakir told CBS News Thursday.

“I don’t want to make a judgment for him. Obviously, it would be his choice to make. But I assume that he would want to reevaluate it,” Shakir said of Sanders.

Granted, we’re not hearing this straight from the horse’s mouth, but if anyone would know what Bernie is thinking these days, it’s probably Faiz Shakir. He’s not only Sanders’ closest aide but was his campaign manager in the 2020 primary, and he would likely take that role again if Bernie decides on a third try.

One of your first thoughts upon hearing this news might be a question of age. Amazingly, Sanders is 81 years old, so he’s even older than Joe Biden. If he managed to win he would be 87 by the time he finished his first term. Given all of the focus on Joe Biden’s age and obvious decline in cognition, that might scare off some of his potential supporters. But Sanders is reportedly in great health for a man of his years and he still seems pretty sharp. Check out this brief video that he released after the rail worker union debacle in Congress this week.

You’ll notice that Sanders doesn’t appear to be reading from a teleprompter by watching how his eyes remain locked on the camera. He speaks smoothly and coherently, staying on topic with only the occasional pause in his words. Compare that to virtually any video you can find of Joe Biden and you’ll likely conclude that Sanders is still probably in complete control of his faculties while Biden simply seems lost.

Would Sanders still be as sharp at 87? Time will tell, but some people retain their cognitive abilities well into their 90s, so it’s certainly possible. But that might not be the only factor that Sanders will need to consider. When you think about how badly Bernie Sanders was treated by his own party in both of his previous attempts, why should he expect to be greeted any more warmly in 2024?

In 2016, the party saw Sanders as an inconvenient distraction when most of them had already settled on the “inevitable first female president.” When he wound up attracting an army of supporters and giving Hillary Clinton a serious run for the nomination, the party went so far as to divert some of his fundraising money to Clinton and rig debates in her favor. In 2020, Sanders was doing so well that many people still believe they brought in Joe Biden to “save the party from Sanders.”

I don’t think that most Democrats actively dislike Sanders. It’s just that they know that almost all of the polling shows that the odds of electing an actual socialist at the national level are pretty slim. Of course, they also have to be careful in how they treat him. If Bernie Sanders grew annoyed enough to mount an independent, third-party bid, he would almost certainly guarantee that the Republican candidate would win. But I’m also not convinced yet that Sanders would really run at all, even if Joe Biden announces that he’s going to be one and done. Look around at the state of the country today. Would you really want the job at this point?

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