President Biden is nearing the official launch of his re-election campaign and could do so as early as next week with a video release, multiple sources tell CBS News.
A source familiar with the plan told CBS News that the Biden team is aiming to release a re-election announcement video on Tuesday, April 25, but President Biden himself has not yet officially signed off on the timing. The president is headed to Camp David with staff and family this weekend, where it will likely be a major topic of conversation.
Tuesday is the most likely date because it marks the anniversary of the day he announced his last presidential bid, April 25, 2019, also via video. But a party operative cautioned that the date and format of the announcement “may change.”
“It’s been a piece of ice for days,” added the operative, emphasizing the fluidity of such announcements.
The video is being produced, according to a senior Democratic source who was briefed on it hours ago. The president has yet to sign the video, the source said.
The Washington Post first reported the latest iteration of the president’s campaign plan, which has been the subject of intense debate in the White House for months among his closest aides and across the Democratic Party.
White House officials declined to confirm the report.
The president is hosting major campaign bundlers in Washington next week, with an event including the president on Friday and continuing during the day on Saturday. Top administration officials, including some cabinet secretaries, will brief donors, according to multiple Democrats familiar with the plan.
One of the Democrats said they were invited via a phone call — no written invitation is being circulated to keep details of the gathering more discreet.
The White House will retreat to the Correspondents’ Dinner weekend, when many top donors from New York and the West Coast will already be in town for various events and dinners.
If he wins the presidency, Mr. Biden, now 80, will be 82 at the start of his second term and 86 at the end of it. He is already the oldest person to win the presidency.
Other longshot Democratic candidates are self-help guru Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy.
Former President Trump, now 76, was the first candidate to announce a 2024 White House bid. Former US Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are also running, as is former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Other Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott, have not yet announced whether they will run.
The president has delayed the announcement of his re-election bid in official speeches against the backdrop of the presidential seal, relying on his agenda and ability to blast Republicans.
Mr. Biden will continue with notable legislative accomplishments, but even so, high inflation is still hurting the American budget and there is a special counsel investigation to discover classified documents in his former private office and Wilmington home. A re-election announcement will also come next week as Democrats and Republicans appear to be deadlocked over how Increase the loan limit Before the nation risks a potentially catastrophic default.
Representative Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from Silicon Valley, told CBS News in January That moderate Democrats could become the biggest political threat to Mr. Biden in the 2024 presidential primary race. And Khanna believes fellow Biden allies shouldn’t rule out the possibility that Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat from West Virginia, or someone like him will challenge the president. The California Democrat said he did not think Mr. Biden would face a serious primary challenge from the left.
Arden Farhi contributed to this report.
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