President Joe Biden may not have made a final decision on whether he will seek reelection, but he is looking forward to the 2024 Republican primaries.
Biden was asked if he thought former President Donald Trump, who may launch a third presidential bid next week, or Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who had a big win on Tuesday night, would be tougher competition.
“It’d be fun watching them take on each other,” Biden said, declining to say whether it would influence him to run again.
Biden has said he would be “very fortunate” to have a rematch with Trump, who was seen as suffering a major setback with the underwhelming Republican performance Tuesday night.
Trump-endorsed candidates stumbled out of the gate in the race to retake the Senate. Republicans still hadn’t clinched the House majority by the time Biden addressed reporters at the White House late Wednesday afternoon.
DeSantis was reelected as governor of Florida in a landslide, four years after he needed a recount to narrowly win office. He is considered the main alternative to Trump in the 2024 primaries and has been a frequent Biden sparring partner.
The White House’s MAGA Republican label is designed in part to extend criticism of Trump to other members of the party.
Biden said he would use every available constitutional means to prevent Trump from regaining power, implying he would work for his electoral defeat.
Yet the president wouldn’t commit to running for a second term, reiterating that it was his intention to do so, but he still had to talk it over with his family. Biden has also said in the past that it would depend on his health.
Biden will turn 80 later this month and would be closer to 90 at the end of a second term.
While Trump is currently 76, DeSantis is only 44.
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Republicans massively underachieved in Tuesday’s elections, though the GOP is moving forward with plans to organize the House next.
“We lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives than any Democratic president in his first midterm election in the last 40 years,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday.
