“Here’s what we absolutely know about last year’s election — it’s over. And I’m going to spend all of my energy focused on the task in front of us,” he told NBC.

Warnock instead pivoted to Republican attempts to enact Medicaid cuts, insisting that the GOP is “literally trying to take healthcare away from children.”

“The Republicans are trying to push forward this big, ugly bill that’s going to literally cut as many as 7 million Americans off of their healthcare,” he said, later suggesting allowing the tax cuts to expire for those making $500,000 or more a year to prevent cutting important programs.

Warnock, a senator for the swing state of Georgia, was elected in the 2021 special election against former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and beat back Republican Herschel Walker in 2022 to keep his seat. He’s up for election in 2026.

The recent Biden speculation, buoyed further by the president‘s prostate cancer diagnosis, follows a decisive defeat for Democrats in the 2024 election. Biden stepped down as the Democratic nominee in July 2024 after a disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump, and the party coalesced around former Vice President Kamala Harris. She would lose to Trump in November 2024.

But Harris only had months to campaign, while Trump had years. Democrats blamed Biden for not stepping down in favor of her earlier to possibly give her a bigger edge against Trump.

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Now the party is viewed as having a leadership void, with no clear-cut 2028 contenders other than Harris, if she runs.

Warnock, and others such as Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), as well as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, could seek a leading role in the years to come.