During an interview with NPR aired on Monday’s “Morning Edition,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that he had problems with President Joe Biden running for a second term at his age, but “I didn’t think me stepping up and saying anything was going to have any impact on him not running again. We would’ve just weakened our only nominee.”
After Smith stated that he did have reservations about Biden running for a second term, but thought it was too early to say so in 2021, co-host Steve Inskeep asked, “A little bit later, 2022, 2023, you do have Democrats concerned. There were reports of meetings to discuss who the nominee might be instead. One of your House colleagues, Dean Phillips (D-MN), was going around, getting more and more alarmed about the idea of Biden serving another term, ultimately even declared his own run against Biden in the presidential primaries. Did you think about speaking out in that period?”
Smith responded, “I thought about it, and it was a difficult decision. I like Dean. There was no way on God’s green earth Dean Phillips was going to beat Joe Biden in a primary, as obviously played out. I was very concerned, as it appeared that Trump was increasingly likely to come back as the nominee, and it put all of us in a really difficult position. So, when the debate happened and it became clear that President Biden was not ready to run again, that’s when I did choose to speak out. Prior to that, I didn’t think me stepping up and saying anything was going to have any impact on him not running again. We would’ve just weakened our only nominee.”
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