WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden formally announced Tuesday that he is running for re-election in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the term of America’s longest-serving president by four years month.
Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is banking on his first-term legislative successes and more than 50 years of experience in Washington to count for more than concerns about his age. He faces an easy path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic challengers. But he is still set for a tough fight to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.
In his first public appearance Tuesday since the announcement, Biden offered a preview of how he plans to navigate the dual roles of president and presidential candidate, using a speech to train union members to highlight his accomplishments and undercut the his Republican rivals, while showing voters. he remained focused on his daily work.
Greeted by chants of “Let’s Go Joe” from a raucous crowd of construction union members, a key base of Democratic support, Biden touted the tens of thousands of construction jobs being created since took office that are supported by legislation he signed into law. .
“We, you and I, together are changing things and we’re doing it in a big way,” Biden said. “It’s time to finish the job. Finish the job.”
Biden campaign ad, a a three-minute videoit comes four years after he spoke at the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the nation” amid Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency, a goal that has remained elusive.
“I said we’re in a battle for the soul of America and we still are,” Biden said. “The question we are facing is whether in the coming years we will have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or less”.
While the prospect of seeking re-election has been a given for most modern presidents, that hasn’t always been the case for Biden. A notable swath of Democratic voters have indicated they would prefer he not run, in part because of his age. Biden has called those concerns “entirely legitimate,” but didn’t address the issue head-on in his launch video.
However, few things have united Democratic voters like the prospect of Trump returning to power. And Biden’s political standing within his party stabilized after Democrats turned in a stronger-than-expected showing in last year’s midterm elections. The president will again run on the same issues that propelled his party last fall, particularly preserving access to abortion.
“Freedom. Personal freedom is central to who we are as Americans. There is nothing more important. Nothing more sacred,” Biden said in the launch video, which showed Republican extremists trying to roll back access to abortion, cut Social Security, limit voting rights and ban books they disagree with “Across the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take away these fundamental freedoms.”
As the contours of the campaign begin to take shape, Biden plans to come out with his record. He spent his first two years as president battling the coronavirus pandemic and pushing major bills like the bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate action.
The president also has multiple policy goals and unfulfilled promises from his first campaign that he is asking voters to give him another chance to deliver.
“Let’s finish this job. 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.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was featured alongside Biden in the video, held a political rally Tuesday evening at Howard University in Washington in support of abortion access, kicking off her own efforts to support the reelection effort.
Harris said she is “proud to be running for re-election with President Joe Biden,” Harris added, “Our hard-won freedoms are under attack. And this is a time for us to stand up and fight back.”
In the video, Biden discusses brief clips and photographs of key moments in his presidency, snapshots of various Americans and flashes of outspoken Republican foes, including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. He urges supporters that “this is our time” to “stand up for democracy”. We defend our personal freedoms. We defend the right to vote and our civil rights.”
Biden also plans to point to his work over the past two years to strengthen US alliances, leading a global coalition to support Ukraine’s defenses against Russian aggression and returning the US to the Paris climate accord . But US public support for Ukraine has softened in recent months, with some voters questioning the tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance flowing to Kiev.
The president also faces lingering criticism over his administration’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war, undermining the image of competence he sought to portray, and is the target of GOP attacks on its economic and immigration policies.
As a candidate in 2020, Biden showed voters his familiarity with the halls of power in Washington and his relationships around the world. But even then, he was acutely aware of voters’ concerns about his age.
“Look, I see myself as a bridge, not something else,” Biden said in March 2020, campaigning in Michigan with younger Democrats, including Harris, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “There’s a whole generation of leaders you’ve seen behind me. They’re the future of this country.”
Three years later, with the president now in his 80s, Biden’s allies say his time in office has shown he saw himself more as a transformational leader than a transitional one.
Still, many Democrats would prefer that Biden not run again. A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that only 47 percent of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term, up from 37 percent in February. And Biden’s verbal — and occasional physical — stumbles have become fodder for critics trying to label him unfit for office.
During a routine physical in February, Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, declared him “healthy, vigorous” and “fit” to handle his White House responsibilities.
Hours after Biden’s announcement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre initially declined to say whether the president planned to serve the eight years if elected to a second term. He later clarified via tweet that “I wanted to be sure I didn’t go into 2024 longer than is appropriate by law. But I can confirm that if re-elected, @POTUS would serve all 8 years.”
Aides acknowledge that while some in their party might prefer an alternative to Biden, there is anything but consensus within their diverse coalition on who that might be. And they insist that when Biden is pitted against the GOP nominee, Democrats and independents will rally around Biden.
For now, Trump, 76, is the favorite to emerge as the Republican nominee, creating the potential for a historic sequel to the hard-fought 2020 campaign. But Trump faces significant obstacles of his own, including the designation of being the first former president to face criminal charges. The remaining GOP field is volatile, with DeSantis emerging as an early alternative to Trump. DeSantis’ stature is also in question, however, amid questions about his willingness to campaign outside his increasingly Republican state.
To win again, Biden will need the alliance of young voters and black voters, especially women, along with Midwestern workers, moderates and disgruntled Republicans who helped him win in 2020. He will have to bring back the so-called “blue”. wall” in the Upper Midwest, while protecting his position in Georgia and Arizona, longtime GOP strongholds that he narrowly won last time.
Biden spoke Tuesday with Democratic governors about his re-election plans, while his aides and allies briefed key political groups, grassroots organizers and state party officials on strategy, his campaign said. The president met later this week in Washington with prominent party donors.
Biden’s re-election bid comes as the nation weathers uncertain economic currents. Inflation is easing after hitting the highest rate in a generation, but unemployment is at a 50-year low and the economy is showing signs of resilience despite rising interest rates the Federal Reserve.
“If voters let Biden ‘get the job done,’ inflation will continue to soar, crime rates will rise, more fentanyl will flow across our open borders, children will continue to be left behind, and American families will be worse off,” he said. say the Republican National Committee. President Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
Presidents often try to delay their re-election announcements to maintain the advantages of incumbency and skate above the political fray as long as possible while their rivals trade blows. But the advantage of being in the White House can be far-fetched: Three of the last seven presidents have lost re-election, the last being Trump in 2020.
Biden’s announcement is roughly consistent with the timeline followed by then-President Barack Obama, who waited until April 2011 to declare for a second term and didn’t hold a re-election rally until May 2012. Trump launched his candidacy for re-election on the day he was sworn in. in 2017.
On Tuesday, Biden named White House adviser Julie Chavez Rodriguez as campaign manager and Quentin Fulks, who ran Sen. Raphael Warnock’s re-election campaign in Georgia last year, as senior deputy campaign manager. The campaign co-chairs will be Representatives Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Jim Clyburn and Veronica Escobar; Senators Chris Coons and Tammy Duckworth; entertainment mogul and Democratic megadonor Jeffrey Katzenberg; and Whitmer.
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AP Writer Chris Megerian contributed.
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