President Joe Biden’s free pass to renomination may prove costly to Democrats. In hopes of avoiding Biden unraveling on the primary trail, the Democrats may see him fall apart after he has won the nomination. This will leave them with no easy way to remove Biden, no easy way to replace him if he leaves, and little time to do either. The chaos Biden helped Democrats avoid in 2020 may be unleashed with greater fury in 2024.
If presidents want it, they are almost always renominated and usually have a clear path to getting there. The exceptions are memorable: Sen. Ted Kennedy’s challenge of President Jimmy Carter in 1980 comes to mind. Though Carter survived the challenge, he went on to lose in November.
The natural desire to take the easy way and renominate the incumbent overlooks
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