President Biden is running for re-election. He made it official in a video released Tuesday morning, just four years after throwing his hat into the 2020 race.
In the three-minute video, Mr. Biden repeated some familiar themes, saying, “When I ran for president four years ago, I said we were fighting for America’s soul — and we still are. The question we face in the years ahead is whether we have more freedom or Less freedom, more rights or less. I know the answer I want. This is not the time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election.”
Over image Riots in the Capitol on January 6 And former President Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, the president said, “MAGA extremists … are lining up to take bedrock freedom.”
Joe Biden launches his campaign for president: Let’s finish Joe Biden on YouTube
Later on Tuesday, Mr. Biden will address a meeting of labor union leaders in Washington, a nod to one of the most loyal voting blocs in each of the Biden campaigns, and another move similar to his 2019 launch. In the early days of his 2020 campaign, then-candidate Biden traveled to Pittsburgh, Pa., to address a supportive crowd filled with labor union members.
The announcement comes after months of debate among the president’s closest aides and allies and across the Democratic Party. While many Democratic leaders and activists had expected Mr. Biden to announce his campaign soon after the year began, party leaders had hoped the president would wait until at least the summer, which would enable him to push his agenda while Republicans on Capitol Hill wrangled the issue. Raising the federal debt limit and GOP presidential candidates continue to squabble in early primary states. Former President Donald Trump’s recent accusations also encouraged Democratic Party leaders, who believed Mr. Biden did not need to rush his top potential Republican opponent into legal jeopardy.
The president spent last weekend at Camp David with some of his closest advisers and the re-election announcement was expected to be a significant part of the agenda.
The president’s campaign is expected to host major campaign donors in Washington this 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 retreat coincides with the weekend of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when many top donors from New York and the West Coast are already scheduled to 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. He is already the oldest person to win the presidency.
Other longshot Democratic candidates who have already jumped into the race are self-help guru Marian Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy.
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 DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott, have not yet announced whether they will run.
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. The announcement also comes as Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked over how to proceed Increase the loan limit Before the nation risks a potentially catastrophic default.
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Nancy Cordes
