Bernie Sanders says he will support Biden if he decides to run in 2024

Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Monday he would not challenge President Joe Biden in a 2024 primary and would back him if he runs. Sanders ran against Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

“I think it’s a little too early,” the Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats, told CNN when asked if he would back Biden in 2024. “I think Biden will probably run again, and if he runs again, I will support him.” Asked if he would run against Biden in a primary, Sanders said: “Not if he runs.”

The White House has said Biden plans to run for reelection next year. “To be clear, as the President has said repeatedly, he plans to run in 2024,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted.

The comments follow remarks New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made on Sunday, when she would not commit to backing Biden in the 2024 presidential election, saying instead that “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“I think if the President has a vision, then that’s something certainly we’re all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes,” Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who like Sanders wields a significant amount of influence over the party’s progressive wing, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” when asked if she plans to support Biden in 2024.