Former California Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown is expressing doubt over whether President Biden, who has yet to officially announce a re-election bid in 2024, can overcome his challengers to win the White House next year.
Discussing whether Biden should seek re-election, Brown, who served as California’s governor from 1975 to 1983 and again from 2011 to 2019, told Politico that the president’s chances of winning the White House a second time hinge on “what the alternatives are.”
“Well, you know, it depends on what the alternatives are,” Brown told the outlet. “I’d say this it’s not a slam dunk any way you look at it.”
A graduate from Yale Law School, Brown suggested that he has what it takes to serve as president. However, he worries that his age could get in the way of launching a successful campaign.
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“I can handle the job but I don’t think the politics can handle my age,” said Brown, who turns 85 on Friday. “We’re not like the old Soviet Union, where they had all those men in the Politburo, people want some fresher faces.”
The comments from Brown, who challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination for president in 1976, come amid nationwide concern from Democrats that Biden may not be the right fit for the party to seek the White House again in 2024.
Forty-four percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters questioned in a Monmouth University Poll released late last month said the president should step aside and allow someone else to run as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer in 2024. A quarter of respondents said Biden should seek re-election next year, and 30% said they had no preference.
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Biden’s job performance rating has mostly held steady for more than a year and currently stands at 44% approve vs. 56% disapprove in the latest Fox News national survey.
Though he has yet to announce his official intention for the 2024 presidential race, Biden has already warranted two Democratic primary challengers — spiritual advisor and author Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the son of late former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late former President John F. Kennedy.
Last October, Biden told MSNBC that it is his “intention” to seek re-election in 2024.
“I have not made that formal decision, but it’s my intention — my intention to run again, and we have time to make that decision,” Biden said.
Since taking office in 2021, Biden has faced pushback from voters and Republicans for his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, which left 13 U.S. service members dead, as well as his administration’s spending habits and rampant inflation.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Dana Blanton contributed to this article.