President Joe Biden will likely be the 2024 Democratic nominee for president, but he isn’t running unopposed.
Despite Biden’s massive, second-quarter fundraising haul — his $72 million marked the most for any candidate during that period — the Democratic primary could soon expand amid a slew of Republican investigations into the president’s family business dealings and malcontent regarding his age.
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Here are four Democrats who are already openly challenging the president or could jump into the race before the year’s end.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
RFK Jr. is a lightning rod.
The latest Kennedy to seek political office has maintained a monthslong hold over second place in the Democratic primary since announcing his bid in April. Unlike past Democratic candidates, Kennedy is not chasing the party’s core electorate and instead has made anti-vaccine rhetoric the chief pillar of his campaign, attacking Biden and former President Donald Trump for their efforts to advance COVID-19 vaccines.
Kennedy, thanks to a string of appearances on conservative-leaning podcasts and television stations, has steadily transitioned his candidacy from something the Biden team can hand-wave into the commander in chief’s chief primary foil.
However, since late June, Biden has maintained a rough 50-point lead over Kennedy in RealClearPolitics’s polling aggregate, and the Democratic National Committee’s decision to move South Carolina up in the primary list could solidify the president’s nomination before the polls in New England ever open.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Williamson represents the sole 2020 Democratic candidate, outside Biden, to try their luck again in 2024, but has failed to gain traction this cycle, currently maintaining 6% support on average in the primary.
A celebrity, self-help guru, Williamson does not represent a realistic challenge to the president, but she has chosen to focus her efforts on attacking the DNC and Democratic lawmakers for circling the wagons around Biden rather than searching for a younger replacement candidate.
She has also repeatedly cycled through her campaign leadership, following consecutive reports of her fostering a toxic work environment, and could exit the race without appearing on any primary ballots.
DEAN PHILLIPS
Phillips, a three-term centrist Democratic congressman from Minnesota, is the latest name to get thrown around as a possible Biden challenger.
Unlike his colleagues, Phillips has refused to endorse Biden’s reelection effort and is actively courting Green Party candidate Cornel West to run in the Democratic primary instead, arguing that third-party runs could siphon away votes from the eventual Democratic nominee in the general election.
The 54-year-old appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday and left the door wide open to running, though he did not state his intent to jump into the race.
“I think I’m well positioned to be president of the United States. I do not believe I’m well positioned to run for it right now,” he said. “Democrats are telling me that they want, not a coronation, but they want a competition.”
JOE MANCHIN
Manchin and Biden go way back, and he’s drawn ire from liberal activists for the speed bumps he’s presented Biden’s legislative agenda over the past two-plus years.
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A Democratic senator from a red state, Manchin routinely voted against his party over government spending concerns and the president’s energy agenda. He has the most national name recognition of any possible Biden challenger not born into a political dynasty and has been openly speculated as the top choice for a “unity” campaign by the bipartisan political organization No Labels.
Still, a bipartisan ticket has low hopes of ousting an incumbent president and could even pull votes away from the eventual Republican nominee in November 2024.
