Former First Lady Michelle Obama categorically denied having any interest in running for president on Tuesday, seemingly putting to bed rumors that she is being eyed as a possible replacement for aging President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election.
“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 Obama’s office, in a statement to NBC News. “Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.”
Former President Barack Obama has also enthusiastically endorsed President Biden’s reelection campaign, saying that he is “all in” for a second term for his former Vice President.
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Despite the Obama family’s endorsements of the current Democratic ticket, many voters have become increasingly open to the idea of tapping the former first lady to replace Biden before the November election. According to a Rasmussen poll last month, just under half of the Democrat voting base supports replacing the 81-year-old president at the top of the ticket. As Valuetainment reported at the time, a majority of these respondents favored Michelle Obama as the replacement candidate.
Other proposed Biden alternatives included Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Related: New Poll Shows Majority of Democrats Want Michelle Obama Over Biden for President
But even with so many people rallying behind her, Mrs. Obama has long maintained that she has no interest in returning to the White House. “Politics is hard,” she told Oprah Winfrey during her Netflix special “The Light We Carry” last year. “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.”
Even so, the statement from her office explains that she plans to be active in assisting Biden’s campaign, using her popularity with the voter base to drum up support and increase turnout on election day.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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