Rep. Elissa Slotkin said on Sunday that she would support President Joe Biden should he grow to be the Democratic nominee in 2024, however the party is in desperate need of latest, younger leaders.
Speaking to Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the 46-year-old Michigan Democrat stressed that the party needs “recent blood” in each chambers of Congress in addition to within the White House.
“He’s the sitting president. If he decides to run again, I’m going to support him. The party’s going to support him,” she said of Biden. “That’s, you realize, that has an extended history in our country. But I even have been very vocal, including with my very own leadership within the House, that we want a recent generation, we want recent blood, period, across the Democratic Party within the House, the Senate and the White House. I feel that the country has been saying that.”
WATCH: When asked whether she’d support Biden in 2024, @RepSlotkin (D-Mich.) brings up the necessity for “recent blood” within the Democratic Party.
“If the sitting president decides to run, we’re going to support him. … But I feel we want recent leaders.” pic.twitter.com/ODtPkLbA7e
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 9, 2022
In 2019, the common member of Congress was 58.6 years old, about a decade older than in 1981 and twenty years older than the population at large. Presently, older Americans have held on to power longer than any previous generation partly attributable to rising longevity, falling birth rates and the huge variety of baby boomers (currently between 58 and 76 years old).
With a median age of 82, House Democratic leaders — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (S.C.) — have led the party within the chamber since 2007. The leadership’s lack of a transparent handover plan has created tension throughout the party, as some potential successors have left the House and a few party members have expressed that current leaders are growing more out of touch with Americans’ needs.
“I’m one in all a handful of members of Congress who hasn’t voted for Nancy Pelosi as speaker. And I’ve said, I feel we want recent leaders. I’d like to see some Midwestern leaders in there, right? That’s been vital to me, is to reflect the center of the country. We’re here too,” Slotkin said. “But I do think recent blood is a great thing — but when the sitting president of the USA decides to run, we’re going to support him.”
Biden told the Rev. Al Sharpton last month that he plans to run for reelection in 2024, NBC News reported last week. The 79-year-old reportedly confirmed the news while posing for a photograph on the White House with the civil rights activist and MSNBC host.
Slotkin, a moderate Democrat, is a looking for a 3rd term and faces Republican challenger Tom Barrett in November. The previous CIA and Pentagon official represents a conservative-leaning district in Michigan, where residents are likely to vote Republican. Slotkin beat incumbent Republican Mike Bishop within the 2018 midterms, some of the closely watched and narrowly decided races of the cycle.
