Sen. Chuck Schumer Expresses Support for Joe Biden If He'll Run in 2024 Presidential Election

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said Tuesday that he will back President Joe Biden if he runs for re-election, but he did not suggest whether his former colleague should.

"I've said I'll back him if he runs," Schumer said on a day when Democrats were able to secure 17 Republican votes to advance a Biden goal during a year in which other key Biden proposals had stalled.

Schumer Supports Biden Despite Democrats' Doubt

Schumer was replying to a question on whether Biden should run for president in 2024, despite surveys showing that many Democrats believe he should not. After receiving the question, he swiftly went on to another - during a news briefing apparently on legislation to grant billions to stimulate US semiconductor manufacture.

According to a new University of New Hampshire survey released Tuesday, only 20% of respondents in the state believe Biden should run, with just under a third believing he should run.

A recent New York Times/Sienna College survey found that nearly two-thirds of Democrats chose someone other than Biden as the party's nominee. Biden, who is being isolated in the White House on Day 5 after testing positive for COVID-19, has stated repeatedly that he plans to run for president. In March, Biden stated that if 2020 contender Donald Trump runs against him, he would be extremely lucky.

For months, his approval ratings have been in the low 40s. Schumer was elected to the House for the first time in 1981, and he and Biden worked together in Congress for decades. Trump was in Washington, DC on Tuesday to make a furious address at the America First Policy Institute's summit. It was his first visit to Washington since skipping Biden's inauguration days after the Capitol brawl on Jan. 6.

Trump delivered a series of slashing attacks on Biden, a day after Biden tore into Trump. On Monday, it was Biden tearing into Trump in a virtual speech before black law enforcement executives at their conference for inaction on Jan. 6, Daily Mail reported.

This week, the president is recuperating after being diagnosed with COVID-19. According to the White House doctor, Biden's symptoms have now nearly totally disappeared, as per The Hill.

According to a recent Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, 17 percent of prospective 2024 Democratic primary voters in the state would favor Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for the Democratic nomination, while 16 percent would prefer Biden. Following the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire hosts the first primary of the presidential election cycle.

Anti-Big Tech Protesters Confront Schumer

Meanwhile, roughly two dozen anti-Big Tech protestors, some dressed in character, stormed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's DC fundraiser on Tuesday evening, demanding that he convene a vote on pending antitrust legislation. Schumer ended up hunkering down in the Kimpton George Hotel near the Capitol until the demonstration ended - while his guests filtered out and honestly informed the mob that he had already departed.

A source at Schumer's Impact PAC's 5 pm fundraiser reported the New York Democrat left at 5:56 pm - so most of the protesters went back to a neighboring pub, mistakenly assuming he had sneaked out a back door. There are two big pending antitrust laws that would prohibit businesses like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google from engaging in anti-competitive behavior, and campaigners intend to pressure Schumer into scheduling a vote, assuming that it would pass.

In an earlier attempt to put pressure on Schumer, the group Fight for the Future hired mobile billboards to park outside the Senate majority leader's New York and DC homes last month. Although the proposed antitrust legislation would not dismantle the large corporations, it would be a huge step toward limiting their influence and may pass with broad bipartisan backing.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in January by a vote of 16-6, with all Democrats and five Republicans voting in favor. The Open App Markets Act, a companion law, is anticipated to be discussed at the same time, according to the New York Post.