Former First Lady Michelle Obama has confirmed that she will not run for president despite many Democrats and Republicans suggesting that the former first lady could be an alternative candidate for the Democratic Party as former President Donald Trump continues to lead President Joe Biden in the polls.
In a statement to NBC News, Crystal Carson, the former first lady’s director of communications, said, “As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president. Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.”
Sources familiar with Obama’s decision told NBC News that the former first lady plans to campaign on behalf of Biden in the fall to boost the president’s bid for a second term in the White House. However, the sources indicated to NBC News that Obama’s involvement in the 2024 campaign is expected to be limited, just like her involvement in the 2020 election was noticeably less than former President Barack Obama’s involvement in 2020.
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NBC reported that sources close to Biden believe the former first lady’s role will be maximized at a later stage in the campaign and that the Biden campaign will use Michelle Obama to win over swing voters just prior to the election. An anonymous senior Biden adviser told NBC News that the Biden campaign has already held discussions with Obama’s team regarding her involvement in the campaign and that one area of “alignment” is with Obama’s voter registration group, which is known as “When We All Vote.”
“President and Michelle Obama were enormously helpful in the fight to beat Donald Trump and elect President Biden and Vice President Harris the first time and we are grateful to have their voice and their support in the fight for the fate of our democracy this November,” Kevin Munoz, a Biden campaign spokesperson, told NBC News in a statement.
NBC News reported that one of Obama’s aides also pointed to the former first lady’s previous discussion with Oprah Winfrey last year, where Obama made it clear that she did not intend to follow in her husband’s footsteps and run for president.
“Politics is hard,” the former first lady told Winfrey during 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.”
