With President Biden announcing that he will run for re-election, the Don’t Run Joe campaign issued the following statement on Tuesday:

The truth remains that a president is not his party’s king and has no automatic right to renomination. Simply crowning Joe Biden as the 2024 nominee is unhealthy for the Democratic Party and the country.

In the face of clear polling that shows he is ill-positioned to defeat a Republican nominee, Biden is moving the Democratic Party toward a likely disaster in 2024. As the Democratic standard bearer, Biden would represent the status quo at a time when “wrong track” polling numbers are at an unprecedented high.

In 2020, incumbent Donald Trump lost as the embodiment of the status quo. Biden narrowly won thanks to massive progressive organizing in swing states. Next year, candidate Biden would be in the position of defending an unpopular status quo. His recent policy decisions, such as repeatedly boosting the fossil-fuel industry, have discouraged and alienated large numbers of grassroots Democrats, particularly young voters. Such issue-based voter suppression is ominous.

It’s not enough to try to ride in on the negative coattails of revulsion toward the GOP. That strategy failed in 2016. The Democratic nominee should offer bold progressive programs that can build winning electoral coalitions while providing an inspiring roadmap for the future.

Don’t Run Joe is not endorsing any of the current candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. The party desperately needs a viable progressive candidate with major experience in government or leadership of social-justice movements.