Bowman avoids question on Biden running again

by Olafimihan Oshin - 08/14/22 7:57 PM ET

Peter Afriyie
Rep. Jammal Bowman (D-N.Y.) addresses reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 to discuss a resolution condemning “Great Replacement Theory”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) on Sunday joined a chorus of other Democrats in avoiding answering a question about whether President Biden should run for reelection in 2024 but said “if” he does, the New York Democrat would support him.

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” guest host Brianna Keilar asked Bowman of Biden “do you want him to run again?”

“Well, I want us to keep winning as Democrats right now in the House,” Bowman replied. “I mean, we’re talking a year or two away. I’m not thinking a year or two away.”

When Keilar pressed, asking Bowman to “walk and chew gum at the same time and tell us if you think that he should run again or not,” Bowman reiterated his previous answer.

“Here’s the most important thing for us to focus on right now. We have to keep the House, which I think we have a chance to do. We have to win multiple seats in the Senate, which I know we have a chance to do, and once we do that, we show our strength as a party, which will make him stronger and will help us as we enter 2024,” Bowman added.

When GOP strategist Scott Jennings, as part of a panel on the show, asked Bowman about his thoughts on reporting that indicates Biden is “aggressively” preparing for his 2024 campaign, he referred to Bowman as an important Democratic lawmaker who ought to determine if he would firmly back the incumbent president in 2024 “right now.”

“Yes, if the president is running for office, if he’s running, I will support him, right?” Bowman replied. “What’s more important than my opinion is for us to continue to have victories in Congress so that the American people can see we’re fighting for them.”

When another panelist said that “Democrats need to figure this out soon,” Bowman interjected, saying, “It’s 2022, why do we need to figure it out right now?”

“Because you don’t have a bench,” the panelist said. “And so if you’re going to condition an environment for voters to get used to someone other than Joe Biden, you’d better go ahead and tell us who that’s going to be.”