Minnesota Democrat Reps. Angie Craig and Dean Phillips have shied away from endorsing President Joe Biden’s potential 2024 candidacy in light of his record-low job approval numbers.
Rep. Craig did not explicitly endorse the incumbent Democrat president but instead called for a “new generation” of Democrat leadership.
NEW: I asked Rep. Angie Craig if she hopes Biden runs in 24 and if she would support him if he does. She urged a "new generation" of Democratic leadership "up and down the ballot."
"I think Dean Phillips and I are in lockstep and alignment with that."https://t.co/SBNYH3CdOj
— Walker Orenstein (@walkerorenstein) August 2, 2022
Craig said that she and Rep. Phillips are “in lockstep and alignment” with calls for a new generation of Democrat leadership.
“I’m talking about Congress and I’m talking about up and down the ballot,” Craig told a local news outlet on Tuesday. “I think Dean Phillips and I are in lockstep and alignment with that and I’m going to do everything in my power as a member of Congress to make sure that we have a new generation of leadership.”
“I would say we need new leaders in Washington up and down the ballot in the Democratic Party,” Craig said when asked if she would support Biden if he decided to run for reelection in 2024.
Craig, who sits in a “toss-up” district according to Cook Political Report, is in a tight race for reelection against Republican challenger Tyler Kistner.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) speaks during a news conference discussing the “Shutdown to End All Shutdowns (SEAS) Act” on January 29, 2019, in Washington, DC. Also pictured is Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN). (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
Craig narrowly beat Kistner by two points in the 2020 election, but Biden’s poor approval ratings may negatively impact her during the current election cycle. A recent poll found that Biden sits 17 underwater in Craig’s district.
Craig’s voting record makes things worse for her as she has supported Biden’s policies 100 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight data.
Craig’s comments about Biden’s 2024 hopes come just a few days after Phillips made it clear he would not support the president in 2024. Phillips similarly called for a “new generation” of Democrat leadership during a radio interview last week.
“I think the country would be well-served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats who step up,” Phillips said.
National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg believes these vulnerable Democrats are recognizing that Biden will be “an extremely heavy anchor” in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Democrats are finally realizing that Joe Biden will be an extremely heavy anchor in November,” Berg said. “Unfortunately for them, they all voted for every single one of Joe Biden’s policies that caused skyrocketing inflation and an economic recession.”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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