Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) on Wednesday maintained her belief that President Joe Biden won’t run for reelection in 2024 days after setting off a firestorm during a primary debate when she first expressed doubt about a potential Biden reelection bid.
Maloney addressed her comment during an appearance on CNN with an apology to Biden, and emphasized that she wanted him to run again.
However: “I happen to think you won’t be running,” the New York congresswoman said.
“But when you run or if you run, I will be there 100 percent,” she added. “You have deserved it.”
Maloney told CNN that her previous remark was “just my own personal belief.”
When pressed on why she had that personal belief, Maloney replied, “Well, we’re all entitled to have our own information and our own beliefs.”
During the 12th Congressional District Democratic primary debate on Tuesday, Maloney and her rivals, which include Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), were asked if they believed Biden ought to run again in the next presidential election cycle.
“I don’t believe he’s running for reelection,” Maloney said.
Nadler responded to the question by arguing that it was “too early to say,” and that speculating about Biden running again “doesn’t serve the purpose of the Democratic Party to deal with that until after the midterms.”
A third candidate in the race, Suraj Patel, fielded the question of whether Biden should run again first, and answered with a simple “yes.”
Maloney and Nadler, both powerful Democrats as chairs of the House Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committee, respectively, found themselves in a bizarre position of having to run against each other after New York’s congressional redistricting process merged parts of their old districts into a new one.
The questions of whether or not Biden will seek reelection have burbled up in recent months amid low approval ratings and polls showing that a majority of Democratic voters want a different candidate to run in 2024.
Biden has maintained that he will run again.
