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Biden, who will be 86 at the end of his second term, is betting his first-term legislative accomplishments and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will outweigh concerns about his age. His path to winning the party’s nomination was smooth, with no real Democratic opponents. But he remains prepared to fight an uphill battle to retain the presidency in a deeply divided country.
The announcement in a three-minute video came on the fourth anniversary of Biden declaring the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the country” during Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency – a goal has remained elusive.
Biden said: “I said we were fighting for the soul of America, and we still are. The question we face is whether we will have more or less freedom in the years to come. Will we have more or less rights? few.”
While the question of seeking re-election has been a given for most modern presidents, that hasn’t always been the case for Biden, as a slew of Democratic voters say they don’t want him to run, in part because of his age – a concern for Biden Called “totally legal,” he doesn’t address these issues head-on in the video he posted.
Yet few things have united Democratic voters like the prospect of Trump returning to power. After Democrats performed stronger than expected in last year’s midterm elections, Biden’s political standing within his party has stabilized as the president began campaigning again on the same themes that supported his party last fall, particularly on preserving access to abortion aspect.
“Freedom. Liberty of the person is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There is nothing more important. Nothing is more sacred,” Biden said in a release video that portrayed Republicans as extremists trying to stop Abortion, cutting Social Security, restricting voting rights and banning books they disagreed with. “Across the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take away these fundamental freedoms.”
“This is not the time to be complacent,” Biden added. “That’s why I’m running for re-election.”
As the contours of his campaign begin to take shape, Biden plans to campaign on his record. In his first two years as president, he has battled the coronavirus pandemic and pushed through major bills such as a bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to boost high-tech manufacturing and climate measures. With Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, Biden has shifted his focus to enforcing these massive laws and ensuring voters believe in his improvements, all in stark contrast to Republicans ahead of an expected showdown as raising the state’s borrowing limit may have already devastating consequences for the country’s economy.
But the president also has multiple policy goals and unfulfilled promises from his first campaign that he’s selling to voters to give him another chance to deliver.
“Let’s get this job done. I know we can,” Biden said in the video, repeating a mantra he said a dozen times during his State of the Union address in February, citing everything from passing assault weapons bans to Everything from lowering prescription drug costs to codifying laws. Abortion rights are available nationwide after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Buoyed by the midterm results, Biden plans to keep all Republicans on board with what he calls “extreme MAGA” politics — citing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — regardless of whether his predecessor ends up running in 2024. vote. Over the past few months, he has been road-testing campaign themes, including portraying Republicans as fighting for tax cuts for corporations and the rich, while trying to slash social safety-net benefits that everyday Americans rely on and reduce access to Access to abortion services.
Through brief video clips and photos of key moments in his presidency, Biden features snapshots of diverse Americans and flashes of his outspoken Republican enemies, including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, admonishing supporters “This is our moment to ‘stand up for democracy.’ Stand up for our individual liberties. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights.”
Biden also plans to point to the work he has done over the past two years to strengthen U.S. alliances, leading a global coalition supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression and returning the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement. But U.S. public support for Ukraine has waned in recent months, with some voters questioning the tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid flowing to Kiev.
The president faces lingering criticism as his administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 after nearly two decades of war undercuts the image of competence he aims to project to the world, and he finds himself a Republican under attack goals of its immigration and economic policies.
As a 2020 candidate, Biden touted to voters his familiarity with the halls of power in Washington and his ties around the world, as he pledged to make the most of Trump’s tumultuous presidency and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The country returned to normal.
But even then, Biden was keenly aware of voters’ concerns about his age.
“Look, I see myself as a bridge more than anything else,” Biden said in March 2020, when he was campaigning in Michigan with young Democrats, including current Vice President Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Michigan Governor Cory Booker. Gretchen Whitmer. “You see a whole generation of leaders standing behind me. They are the future of this country.”
Three years later, the 80-year-old president, a Biden ally, said his time in office showed he considered himself more of a transformational leader than a transitional one.
Still, many Democrats want Biden to stay out of the race. A recent AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found just 47 percent of Democrats said they wanted him to seek re-election, up from 37 percent in February. Biden’s verbal and occasional physical blunders have become fodder for Republicans seeking to dismiss him as unfit for office.
Biden dismissed concerns about his age on multiple occasions, simply saying, “Look at me.”
During a routine physical in February, his doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, declared him “healthy, energetic” and “fit” to handle his White House duties.
Aides acknowledged that while some in his party may prefer a replacement for Biden, there is little consensus in their diverse coalition about who might be the replacement. They insist that Democrats and independents will rally around Biden when he is compared to whoever the Republican nominee is.
Trump, 76, is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, creating the potential for a historic sequel to the hotly contested 2020 race. But Trump himself faces significant hurdles, including being named the first former president to face criminal charges. The rest of the Republican field is in turmoil, with DeSantis emerging as an early replacement for Trump. However, DeSantis’ stature has also come into question as questions over his readiness to run outside his increasingly Republican-leaning state have emerged.
To win again, Biden needs to reinvigorate younger and black voters — especially women — and the coalition of blue-collar Midwesterners, moderates and disaffected Republicans who helped him win in 2020. He will again have to saddle the so-called “blue wall” of the northern Midwest while protecting his positions in Georgia and Arizona, longtime Republican strongholds he narrowly won in the last campaign.
The U.S. is weathering uncertain economic headwinds as Biden campaigns for re-election. Inflation is easing after hitting its highest level in a generation, pushing up prices for goods and services, but unemployment is at a 50-year low and the economy is showing signs of resilience despite the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.
Presidents typically try to delay their re-election announcements to maintain an edge in office and stay out of political wrangling for as long as possible while their rivals exchange jabs. But the benefits of being in the White House could be shaky — three of the past seven presidents have lost re-election, most recently Trump in 2020.
Biden’s announcement is roughly in line with the timetable followed by then-President Barack Obama, who waited until April 2011 to announce his re-election. Trump launched his re-election campaign on the day he was sworn in in 2017.
With Biden not expected to drastically alter his day-to-day as a candidate — at least not immediately — aides see his strongest political asset as showing the American people that he is governing. If he follows Obama’s playbook, he may not hold any official campaign rallies until 2024. Obama did not hold a re-election rally until May 2012.
On Tuesday, Biden named White House adviser Julie Chavez Rodriguez as campaign manager and Quentin Fox as principal deputy campaign manager. Reps. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Jim Clyburn and Veronica Escobar; Senators Chris Coons and Tammy Duckworth; entertainment mogul and large Democratic donor Jeffrey Carson Berg; Whitmer will serve as campaign co-chairs.
Following Tuesday’s announcement, Biden will address union members before hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol for a state visit to the White House. He plans to meet with political party donors in Washington later this week.
After months of public skepticism that the president would seek re-election, Biden was officially granted re-election despite numerous signs of his intentions.
Ahead of the president’s announcement, first lady Jill Biden cast doubt on persistent questions about her husband’s candidacy.
“How many times does he have to say it before you believe it?” she told The Associated Press in late February. “He said he wasn’t done yet.”
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