Michelle Obama has ruled herself out as a presidential candidate, putting to bed speculation that she would jump in at the last minute to give Democrats an alternative to aging Joe Biden.
The former first lady maintains a star power within Democratic politics, despite largely removing herself from the political scene in recent years.
‘As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president,’ said Crystal Carson, director of communications for her office, told NBC News. ‘Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.’ A recent Rasmussen survey found that nearly 50 percent of Democrats support replacing Biden at the top of the ticket, and of them more Democrats would like to see Michelle Obama, 20 percent, than Vice President Kamala Harris, 15 percent.
But the 60-year-old has said multiple times she isn’t interested in running for office and has admitted she is ‘terrified’ of the outcome of this year’s election.
‘What’s going to happen in this next election? I’m terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter. Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted,’ Obama told Jay Shetty on his podcast ‘On Purpose’ in January.
Last year Obama explained to Oprah why she would not be running for office.
‘Politics is hard,’ she said in a Netflix special. ‘And the people who get into it … you’ve got to want it. It’s got to be in your soul, because it is so important. It is not in my soul.’
In a 2022 BBC interview she said she ‘detests’ questions about running for president.
But NBC reports the former first lady was upset when Jill Biden ruled her out as a running mate for her husband on the campaign trail in 2020.Asked by CNN whether Obama was an option, Jill Biden laughed and said: ‘You know, I’d love it if Michelle would agree to it. But I — you know, I think she’s had it with politics. I don’t know. She’s so good at everything she does. That would — that would be wonderful.’
Two sources said Obama wasn’t happy with that answer and wanted Biden to have a different one on hand that didn’t close that door if she were asked the question again.
Speculation on a replacement for Joe Biden reached a fever pitch last month when special counsel Robert Hur released a report on Biden’s mishandling of classified documents that called him ‘elderly’ and ‘forgetful’ and therefore unfit for charges in the case.
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