Another House Democrat balked when asked whether President Biden should run for a second term in 2024.
“I’m so sick of these ‘gotcha’ questions and everything else,” Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan shot back Thursday on NBC’s “Meet the Press Now” when asked by host Kristen Welker if she wanted to see the President run again.
Pushed by Welker — who put the question to Dingell a second time — the response was lukewarm.
“If he wants to run — let’s see what he’s going to do,” Dingell finally said.
The Progressive Caucus member said her political energy was focused squarely on the midterm elections — when Republicans are expected to reclaim the House of Representatives.
“Ask me that question after we’ve kept the House — which we will — and the Senate in November,” she said. “And then let’s start looking at 2024.”
Dingell is currently seeking reelection in Michigan, where she is running against Republican Whittney Williams.
Dingell did say she was “proud” to call Biden her “friend,” and said she hoped he’d join her on the campaign trail.
“You need to look at what we have gotten done in the past few weeks and months,” she said. “I think Joe Biden is working hard and delivering in a very divided country, and that Democrats need to be proud that we work with him and we’ve gotten a whole lot more done than some previous presidents have.”
Dingell’s demur is not the first time a Democratic candidate has indicated Biden might not jump at a second term.
Earlier this month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney — who lost New York’s newly redrawn District 12 seat to Rep. Jerry Nadler in a street fight of a primary — told the New York Times’ editorial board that Biden wouldn’t run again, believing she was off the record.
Maloney made a similar remark during a primary debate, though she said she’d support Biden if he did run.
Nadler, on the other hand, would not commit to supporting POTUS.
“[It] doesn’t serve the purpose of the Democratic Party to — to deal with that until after the midterms,” Nadler said at the debate earlier this month.