“Help Wanted” Ad And Mobile Billboards In DC Urge Biden, "Don't Run Joe"

“A healthy political party requires healthy political debate about its future.”

By Ryan Black

The Hill newspaper today published a full-page ad in its print edition (on page 7) calling for a progressive Democrat to step forward with a primary challenge to President Biden, who has said he intends to run for re-election.

The  ad, which appears under a big “Help Wanted” headline, says that a “historic position” is available for an “articulate and principled Democrat willing to show political courage on behalf of party and country.”

The notice goes on: “Qualifications include a record of progressive advocacy, effective leadership and proven integrity. Capacity to withstand intensive pressure from corporate interests and the Biden White House a must.”

The ad was placed by the Don’t Run Joe campaign, which is sponsored by the activist group RootsAction.

Karen Bernal, a Don’t Run Joe organizer and former three-term chair of the California Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus noted that recent polls by CNBC and CNN found that nearly 60 percent of Democrats nationwide do not want Biden to be the party nominee in 2024.

“A presidential nomination should not be a coronation,” RootsAction national director Norman Solomon said. “Voters in the Democratic presidential primaries next year should not simply be told to rubber stamp a choice handed down from on high.”

The organization’s co-founder Jeff Cohen said Thursday: “A healthy political party requires healthy political debate about its future. President Biden should not be enabled to coast to re-nomination without such a debate, especially in light of recent polling that shows most Democrats don’t want him to seek a second term.”

The Don’t Run Joe campaign also rolled out mobile billboards around the White House in Washington, D.C. that includes the statement “Most Democrats Say Don’t Run Joe”. The campaign issued a press release on Tuesday to announce the mobile billboards that followed TV ads that aired in the D.C.-area last week.

“We strongly urge President Biden to announce that he won’t seek re-nomination,” Sam Rosenthal, the political director of RootsAction, said in a statement. “An open Democratic primary could chart a bolder, more popular future for the party — and 2020 showed that, after a wide-open process, Democrats can unite to defeat the right-wing threat in November 2024.”