If Not Biden, Who?

A look at the alternatives

Count me among those who think that it’s risky for Democrats to go all-in on Joe Biden in 2024. I like Biden, but he’s older than wool underwear, and I worry that he won’t stay cogent through 2029. And polls show that a lot of people have the same concern.

Biden’s only primary challenger is Marianne Williamson, a woman who seems like she should be running a shop in Portland that sells hemp tampons. That’s not ideal. Some feel that Biden should face a real primary challenge, and others want him to rethink the VP slot given the non-zero chance that he might suddenly disintegrate into nothingness, Obi-Wan Kenobi-style. Of course, the appeal of any possible alternative scenario waxes and wanes based on the “who” in the question “who else?” So, let’s look at who else could conceivably run.

I’m not going to talk about anyone who ran in 2020. You already know the likes of Bernie and Buttigieg; this column is about lesser-known Democrats who might step in if — for one reason or another — Biden is suddenly not The Guy. To build this list, I contacted several influential Democrats, each of whom completely ignored me, except for Barack Obama, who told me to “go jump up my own dick.”¹ So, I just googled “Democrats who might run if Biden croaks” and compiled the names that came up most often. Here are those names, as well as my attempt to answer the most pressing questions you might have about them.