Former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield argued Democrats should not be pressing the panic button on President Joe Biden’s reelection bid and instead stick with him as the presumptive nominee.
Discussions about replacing Biden with another Democratic candidate have grown exponentially since the first presidential debate last month, during which the president performed underwhelmingly against former President Donald Trump. Bedingfield, however, encouraged Democrats to “level-set” their concerns about Biden, claiming that post-debate polling was not as drastically bad as some predicted.
“I would not argue the status quo is great for him either,” Bedingfield said on CNN This Morning. “I mean, you see him consistently within 1 or 2 points in swing states that he needs to win. So I‘m not arguing that the landscape looks terrific for him right now, but it is also true that the bottom has not fallen out since the debate. So I think that should be the point of discussion.”
Bedingfield added that swapping Biden out with someone else would not be “a magic fix” to the Democratic Party’s chances at winning the 2024 elections, as doing so would be a very difficult process. She also argued that if this were to happen, the replacement candidate would be placed “in the firing line.”
Going forward, she encouraged the Biden campaign to “push the narrative back to Trump,” and to be more aggressive in this push to remind voters about the likely rematch between the two. Bedingfield argued that Biden has so far not made a noticeable effort with this, as he has only appeared at one rally post-debate.
Bedingfield was one of several CNN anchors who criticized Biden’s performance right after the network’s debate, arguing that the president failed to show voters that he has the stamina to serve in the White House for another four years.
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Biden is speaking with multiple Democratic governors throughout this week as the party continues to grapple with the possibility of replacing him. Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), and Wes Moore (D-MD), among other governors, have been suggested as replacements.
The Biden family has so far dismissed the idea of the president dropping out, with first lady Jill Biden stating that they will “continue to fight” in this election cycle and that her husband will “always do what’s best for the country.”
