JOE BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS’ CHRONIC CRIME PROBLEM. What’s one good clue that President Joe Biden really intends to run for reelection in 2024? He is trying to distance himself from the Democratic Party’s soft approach to crime. The president, who in 2020 distanced himself from Democrats who advocated defunding the police, stunned many in his party recently when he announced his opposition to a lenient local law in the District of Columbia that would reduce sentences for carjackers and other criminals who use guns in the commission of their crimes.

But recent events in Maryland, right next to Washington, show that Biden will have a lot to run away from. Biden has singled out the new Democratic governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, for praise in recent weeks. “You got a hell of a new governor in Wes Moore, I tell ya,” Biden said at an event in Lanham, Maryland, on Feb. 15. “He’s the real deal.” But the president might soon need to run away from Moore and the Democratic leadership of the state next door.