20 Reader Ideas for Who Could Replace Biden
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Last week I asked, “Should Joe Biden run for reelection? If not, who would you choose to replace him on the Democratic ticket?” If Up for Debate correspondents were representative of the American electorate, Biden would be in trouble––the overwhelming majority of you want him to retire. Your most-frequently mentioned replacements: Gavin Newsom (the governor of California) and Amy Klobuchar (the senator from Minnesota). But let’s start with Biden’s defenders.
Among their arguments:
- “He’s already shown he can beat Trump, which no other Democratic candidate can claim,” John writes. “He’s got what it takes to win.”
- “He steady … doing as well as anyone could with the hand he was dealt,” Brad writes. “I’m tired of the press flooding the news with polls and op-eds saying he is too old––usually from people who think that Bernie should make another go at it.” In my defense, Brad, I think Bernie Sanders––and Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, and Donald Trump––are all too old to run, and that Dianne Feinstein is too old for the Senate.
- “If inflation is down and his poll numbers are up, and his health remains at least as good as now, I would recommend Biden run for reelection,” J writes, “but that he waits until late 2023 to decide.”
JD prefers Biden with a new VP:
Look, I get it, he is old, he is slowing down, and he will be 82 (!) when he runs for his second term. We should have someone else to build a broad coalition to win the presidency.
But we don’t, we have Biden. My friend and I argued about this for an hour last night: he wants Liz Cheney to run for the Democratic
