Schumer dodges question about whether Biden should run in 2024: ‘I’m not focusing on that’

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., dodged a question on whether he believes President Biden should run in 2024.

Schumer said he was “not focusing” on the 2024 election when asked about the subject during a Thursday radio interview, adding that Democrats should instead focus on the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.

“I’m not focusing on that,” Schumer told SiriusXM show host Joe Madison. “If we get a couple more seats in the Senate — right now, if the election were held today, we would pick up a few seats.”

MAJORITY OF DEMOCRATS DON’T WANT BIDEN TO RUN AGAIN IN 2024, POLL FINDS

“We’re doing great,” Schumer added.

Schumer said Democrats could pick up the seats for grabs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other battleground states.

The top Senate Democrat said that if he “got two or three more seats” in the next election, the Inflation Reduction Act the Senate just passed “would be nothing.”

“We would get childcare, we would get paid family leave, we would help for the elderly home care,” Schumer said. “We would get the kind of things Joe Manchin was against and we couldn’t do in this bill.”

Schumer called on Democrats to “focus on the 2022 elections” and to put to bed, for now, the burning question surrounding Biden’s future in 2024.

That may be easier said than done, as the first midterm elections of a president’s initial term are often a referendum on him and his policies.

It is likely the House will flip to Republican control come the midterm elections this fall. 

The Senate is more up in the air in terms of flipping — initially, Republicans were thought to have both chambers locked down, albeit with a thin margin in the Senate.

However, some GOP candidates in key states are not yet performing as well as the party had hoped

One such race is the competition between Democrat Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running as a Republican.

Right now, Fetterman is the favorite with a sizable lead in the polls, but the Keystone State’s purple hue doesn’t guarantee that lead will last, especially as Biden’s approval tanks nationally.

According to a July New York Times poll, 64% of Democrats want Biden to sit out in 2024 as his approval rating continues to plummet.