Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse refused to answer whether President Joe Biden should run for a second term while speaking on a podcast Thursday.
During an appearance on the Rhode Island Report podcast, Whitehouse discussed the upcoming midterms and was asked whether Biden should launch a bid for re-election.
“I think it’s gonna be something to watch as we got through this election,” Whitehouse said. “Obviously Biden is not on the ballot. He doesn’t need to make a decision now about 2024.”
“But I do think that from now through November is a really important period for the Biden administration to set the mark for how they’re going to campaign for 2024 and to establish the narrative.”
Whitehouse was further pressured to answer, but dodged the question again.
Q: “Do you think [Biden] should run again?”
Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: “I’m going to duck that question.” pic.twitter.com/eRCekJ1FHP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 19, 2022
“I’m gonna duck the question if you don’t mind,” Whitehouse laughed. “We don’t have any candidates yet for 2024, and I’m not picking amongst them.”
Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush was similarly hesitant to answer a question about Biden’s potential run during a July interview with KSDK.
Bush said she didn’t “want to answer” whether Biden should run. (RELATED: ‘I Apologize’: Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney Regrets Not Committing To Biden For 2024, Gushes Over President)
“He’s the president. He has the right to run for a second term.”
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin recently got into a shouting match on MSNBC when he refused to answer whether he’d support Biden running for re-election.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” Manchin said when asked about a potential Biden run.
New York Democratic representatives Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney also bucked the question during a primary debate, with Nadler saying it is “too early to say.”