Throughout the early days of the 2024 presidential election cycle, it’s become obvious to many that the general election will be a rematch of 2020 between former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.
Trump is miles ahead ahead of other Republican candidates in primary polls to determine the Republican nominee in the general election, while Biden has decided to run again and candidates seeking reelection don’t have opposition in primaries within their party.
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But as longtime college football analyst Lee Corso is famous for saying, “not so fast, my friend.”
Sure, odds are still good that the rematch for 2024 will happen. But lately, there seems to be some discontent about both candidates from people in their own party, and viable plan Bs are being sought behind the scenes, according to reports.
With the Iowa Caucus slated for mid-January and primaries in South Carolina and Nevada in February, time is starting to run out to push alternative candidates.
Here is a breakdown of the situation for each party.
Republican donors intensifying search for Trump alternative
It’s become obvious that big Republican donors don’t care much for the wide range of candidates who are trailing Trump right now and who have appeared in the first two debates.
Those donors are also not wanting to back Trump, given his legal issues and concerns he won’t be able to beat Biden.
But there might be a hope for Republicans looking for a plan B: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
On Oct. 17 and 18, Youngkin will be hosting donors in what’s being dubbed as a “Red Vest Retreat,” a two-day gathering that will be held in Virginia Beach.
The stated purpose might be to raise funds for Virginia’s General Assembly election in November. But make no mistake, mega donors will be in attendance trying to further twist Youngkin’s arm to enter the presidential race.
High-profile donors have been meeting with Youngkin in recent months trying to woo him into the race, and that pursuit will likely only intensify.
Behind the scenes, Democrats becoming more concerned about Biden
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, there are growing concerns about the Biden’s candidacy and ability to get reelected next year.
And these concerns aren’t just coming from anybody. They are being voiced by prominent Democrats, according to the article.
“It would be irresponsible for us to not be concerned at this point,” said one member of the Democratic National Committee in the article. “People can be hopeful about what the result is going to be. But we don’t have any evidence as to why we should be hopeful. The polling is bad. The approval ratings are bad. We know about concerns about both the president’s age and about the vice president if she were to take over.”
Biden will turn 81 in November.
The big difference for the Democrats is, unlike many Republicans who are zeroing on Youngkin, it might be too late to come up with a plan B to Biden.
Unless Biden surprisingly reverses course and decides to drop out of the race, he won’t have any challengers for the nomination, especially at this point of the election cycle.
“We’re almost into the election season now,” said David Axelrod, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama, to the Wall Street Journal. “There really, in my view, is not time for the kind of full-blown campaign you want to have to vet the candidates.”
We’ll see what happens in the coming months. But it’s clear there has become more opposition from both Republicans and Democrats to a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024.