Cedric Richmond, President Biden’s 2024 campaign co-chairman, dodged questions Sunday about the president’s age as he approaches reelection for another four years in office, instead pointing to the “kitchen table issues” Americans are facing.
When asked on ABC’s “This Week” how the campaign will handle criticism of Biden’s age, Richmond responded: “While they continue to talk about age, we will talk about the things that Americans are talking about, and that’s kitchen table issues.”
At 80 years old, Biden has faced questions about whether he is too old to run and serve another four years. He is already the oldest person to serve as president, and he would be 86 at the end of a second term.
Richmond pushed back against questions around the president’s age, instead touting some of the Biden administration’s policies and criticizing some of the Republicans who might face the president in the general election.
“While they continue to talk about age, we’ll continue to talk about the fact that they’re not talking about banning assault weapons, while they’re banning books but they’re not protecting out children in schools,” Richmond said. “The fact that none of them raised their hand to talk about climate as a real issue when we see fires in Maui, we see hurricanes hitting California, we see the destruction of wildfires. But they’re not talking about that.”
During the first GOP primary debate last week, a few of the Republican candidates took aim at the president’s age, reiterating calls first made by GOP candidate Nikki Haley for a mental and physical test leaders in Washington must pass in order to hold office.
Biden himself has acknowledged that voters in many national polls cite his age as the top reason they don’t want to see him run again and has said that Democrats who call for him to step aside are not “right or wrong.”
“They’re not right or wrong,” Biden told CNN last month. “Look, to use the phrase again, I think we’re at an inflection point. I think the world is changing. And I think there is one thing that comes with age, if you’re — been honest about it your whole life, and that is some wisdom.”
An NBC News poll released in June found more than two-thirds of respondents are concerned about Biden’s age.