Rep. James Clyburn (DS.C.) said Wednesday that he expects President Biden to run for re-election in 2024 and warned his fellow Democrats not to challenge him.
“I’m all for President Biden,” Clyburn told CBS News’ Robert Costa in an interview Wednesday. “I think he has shown in these two years… that he deserves re-election. And I do believe he will get re-elected regardless of who the Republicans put forward.”
Clyburn, who was a key Biden ally in the 2020 election, praised him for “passing more progressive legislation than any president since Lyndon Baines Johnson.”
The South Carolina congressman also issued a warning to potential Democratic challengers, pointing to Sen. Ted Kennedy’s primary election against President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Carter defeated Kennedy for the Democratic nomination, but ultimately lost to Ronald Reagan in the general election, a loss many blamed on Kennedy’s defiance.
“History is very clear about what happens when you challenge a sitting president like this,” Clyburn said.
Biden has yet to officially announce his re-election campaign, but has repeatedly suggested that he intends to run again.
Former President Trump, on the other hand, took the unorthodox approach of launching his 2024 campaign particularly early, just a week after the midterm elections. Trump is scheduled to hold his first big campaign event of the year on January 28 in South Carolina.
