Biden and Harris made the official announcement of their reelection bid in 2024.
At a White House presser, a reporter asked Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday
if President Biden is reelected in 2024, will he finish his second term?
She answered, “That’s up to him to decide.” She said she won’t speak for the president, ever.
With the reelection bid announcement came some serious discussions about Biden’s ability to finish the next term if he should win.
One angle that’s been discussed is the possibility that Kamala Harris might become president for up to 10 years if Joe Biden decides not to serve out his full four-year term in 2024.
Harris could take over for the remainder of Biden’s second term and then run for president as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in 2028.
In 2032, she would be eligible to run for a second four-year term.
Harris could only run for president once and serve one four-year term under the 25th Amendment if Biden served less than half of a second term. By the time their second terms ended, Biden would be 86 and Harris 63.
Historian Craig Shirley likened the prospect of a sitting vice president completing a president’s term and then competing for office twice to that of John F. Kennedy’s two terms as president.
After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, his vice president, Lyndon Johnson, successfully ran for president the following year. In 1968, when he could have run again, he decided against it.
With American politics, “we’ve learned long ago anything is possible,” Shirley said.
For Harris to win the election on her own merits, he said, “God will have to drop everything else.”
Harris has very low favorability ratings.
Shirley also suggested that Biden temporarily vacate the presidency and give Harris a try at the helm.
